


A Small Favor

by PerpetuallyBaffled



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fix-It, Ghost Tobirama, Happy Ending, Original Character-centric, Reincarnation, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:58:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15962264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerpetuallyBaffled/pseuds/PerpetuallyBaffled
Summary: When a god asks you for a favor, no matter how outrageous, you can't exactly say no, can you?A young woman is tasked with changing things for the better and promptly shoved into the body of a ten-year-old Uchiha. With a grumpy former Hokage only she can see as her sole ally, she's got her work cut out for her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is very loosely inspired by [In Good Company](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084115/chapters/2179921), in that the MC can see Tobirama as a ghost. I don't think there are enough similarities to put it in Inspired Bys without feeling tricksy about the main premise, but I thought I should mention it. Of course, it is also inspired by the many, many other 'reincarnated into an Uchiha' fics floating around.
> 
> This is me playing around with the 'all-knowing character jumping in and fixing things' genre. There will be some romance, but I haven't quite picked the endgame for that aspect, so no tags atm. 
> 
> This is very AU, and timelines might get a bit wonky. Mostly, it's meant to be fun.

“Hello.”

The girl opened her eyes, confused at the breaking of the silence that she’d been floating through for eons. Or maybe it was just a few minutes? It was hard to tell. She was warm and comfortable and could feel water lapping gently against her though it made no sound.

“Huh,” she said when she finally looked around. She was, indeed, floating in what looked like an endless expanse of water. The world was dark around her, though there seemed to be a slight glow coming from no particular direction that reflected lightly on the surface of her personal ocean, highlighting the gently moving waves.

Standing three feet from her, directly on the water, was a man. Or, well, somebody that was man-like, anyway. He was tall and she understood immediately that the sense of comfort and calm she’d been floating in was coming not from this place, but from him. Everything about him was white, from his long robes to his hair and goatee to the horns on his head. Everything, that is, except for his eyes - all three of them. He was looking at her expectantly, and after a moment she remembered he had spoken and was probably waiting for her answer.

“Hello,” she said back and his lips quirked up on one side.

“Child.” If anybody else had called her that she would have bristled, because she was _twenty,_ but when he said it she knew it to be true. This man was old, older than the sky, than the water moving gently across her body, than any living thing. “You are here because I have a favor to ask.”

Languid, she blinked her eyes. “Oh? What kind of favor?”

“The kind that can never be repaid. The kind that will cost you in blood and tears and pain, but that will save hundreds of thousands of lives in the end.” He said this with a perfectly straight face.

A trickle of unease made it through the calm and she defaulted to her usual defense mechanism. “This sounds like a recruitment advertisement to join the military,” she joked weakly. When he just continued to stare at her, she gaped. “Wait, really? Um. You know my family are extremely liberal, right? Like hardcore, don’t flush when we do number one, Prius-driving recyclers. Seriously, we were on our way to a Pride Parade just before...I came...here...” she frowned in confusion and looked around, finally realizing just how strange this situation was.

“Uh, where am I?” A memory was tickling the back of her mind and it wasn’t a pleasant one. Tires screeching, an inevitable knowledge that she wouldn’t get out of the way on time, and screaming...a wave of calm washed over her and it flitted away.

“I am afraid that you are in limbo,” he said and sounded truly apologetic.

“Limbo,” she said flatly. “Like...I’m dead?” He inclined his head and she frowned when the memory returned, this time more muted. “A car ran a stop sign while we were on the crosswalk. My...my parents?”

He remained silent and she swallowed. From the fragmented images in her mind, she was pretty sure her mothers didn’t fare any better than she had. “Okay, well, why aren’t they here then?” Funny, how being dead didn’t seem like a big deal in this place. At least now she could stop stressing about that final in the political science course she’d been taking that summer.

“They have moved on. You, too, may join them if you choose to refuse this task.”

“The task of joining your undead army?” She was really going to need some more information, here.

“The task of preventing the destruction of my world.” He delivered this line with such calm clarity that she was once again left reeling.

“Your world. Like, different than mine?” the girl finally asked, because these were important questions.

“It is. After much reflection, I realized that the only way to break the cycle of destruction was to include an outside influence. Your creator agreed to allow me the use of a warrior’s soul from his own world for a few small favors from me, on the condition that you agree.”

“Uh. My creator? Please tell me God isn’t a real thing, because if so, I am screwed. I never went to church. I’m pretty sure I’m a glutton. Oh, god, and - what do you think my creator counts as a virgin?”

Again, a small quirk of the lips. “I believe you are referring to one imagined version of God. If so, you have nothing to worry about. There is no heaven or hell, only the next step.”

“That’s...disturbingly vague, but okay. Also, you’re confusing me with somebody else. I’m not a warrior. I can’t even throw a punch.”

She’d tried to get into a bar fight once with her cousin and ended up cracking a knuckle on a man’s face, who had simply blinked at her in confusion before pushing her out of his way. She’d gone flying into a table full of mostly-empty glasses and had needed twenty stitches.

He tilted his head and studied her before waving his hand. An image appeared above them, of her standing out in the sleet and holding a sign. She remembered that day. It had been freezing and somebody had thrown an honest-to-god half-rotten tomato at her, but she’d stayed the whole day anyway.

“A warrior’s heart shows itself in many different ways. The physical is easily enough taught, but it is strength of character that is difficult to find. That strength is in you - the ability to stand strong against overwhelming odds simply because it is the right thing to do.”

That was the nicest thing anybody had ever said to her and she had to look away to collect herself. Her voice was a little rough when she spoke next. “So you want me to save your world by organizing protests and suing corrupt corporations and governmental agencies? Because that was the only ass-kicking I had planned for my future before that car rammed into us.”

“How you go about it is up to you, though you will have a guardian and mentor there to help you.”

She stared at him. “I’m not...listen, you seem...great...” his three eyes blinked at her slowly and she cleared her throat, “but for all I know you’re the head of a - a terrorist organization or something and are trying to trick me into helping you blow up innocent people.” Okay, so she may have watched too many TV dramas. “So I’m going to need you to give me a little more information to go on.”

He stared at her for a long, long moment. “I will show you what I’d like you to change if you are amenable. It can be a bit overwhelming, but I believe you can handle it.”

She hesitated, but she’d never been one to shy away from uncomfortable things, so she nodded. She’d barely finished the motion when he was in front of her, placing a finger to her forehead.

_A young man with long, black hair and lines too deep for his age beneath his eyes bows in front of two old men. One is sitting behind a desk and wearing long white robes and a white hat. The other is covered in bandages throughout his body and carrying a cane._

_“They refuse to reconsider the coup d'etat, Hokage-sama, Shimura-sama.”_

_“Then we must act,” bandages says._

_“We may still find a diplomatic solution, Danzo,” hat says._

_“Don’t be a fool, Hiruzen. There is no reasoning with them...”_

_A scene change and the same boy is now kneeling in front of Danzo and two new, but equally old people. “Itachi-kun, you will stop this coup before it destroys the village.”_

_“If I do this, you will spare my brother.” It is not a question._

_“We will,” the old woman says and she looks tired - so tired._

_“Then it is done.”_

_Now, the boy is walking down a street, but his face is death, and he holds a sword. Next to him walks a man in a robe with clouds, wearing an orange mask..._

_Itachi watches when the man slaughters the first person, blood arcing through the air as the man falls, but he keeps walking...towards his own house, where his parents live..._

_The images and feelings (oh god, the feelings) come faster now. His brother, returning home, Itachi putting him under a genjutsu. Sasuke is an avenger, he feels only hatred...._

_A team. A sad boy with unwavering determination, a pink haired girl too consumed with her own insecurities and her infatuation for an ideal, an avenger, and a broken man.  The girl watches as they fight a missing-nin, as they begin to form bonds, and it might work, they may actually come together..._

_But then a man with the eyes of a snake comes and fills Sasuke’s mind with poison, a mind already so full of hatred but mostly crippling loneliness and determination..._

_And Itachi is wearing the clouds, now, and he’s after Naruto..._

_The story unfolds before her. Sasuke leaves, almost killing Naruto. Naruto leaves to train. Kakashi falls back into his old ways, and his last student leaves him, too, for a beautiful woman with honey eyes that can punch through mountains._

_The cloud-cloaked men are collecting people, people like Naruto, and sucking something from them..._

_“Bijuu,” the horned-man whispers, pain coming through clearly in her mind. “My children...”_

_It all culminates in war, in a great war where long-dead men come to life, and the history behind the horror is laid out before her, the cycle of the Sage of Six Paths’ sons, seemingly forever doomed to destroy each other..._

_Sixty thousand people dead in the course of two days. A crazy goddess come back to life..._

“That’s enough,” the pale man, who she now knew was the Sage of Six Paths, said. She gasped for air when the images ended, not trying to stop her tears from falling. He put his hand on her shoulder and she felt his sorrow as if it were her own.

“I’m not...what do you think I can do?” she whispered.

“All you can do is try,” he finally said.

And, well, that’s what mom used to say to her, whenever she was feeling afraid of failure. She’d been taught not to turn away from a fight, not when it mattered, even if she knew she was on the losing end. In her world that translated to marching on Capitol Hill and petitioning for reproductive rights. In the world the Sage showed her, she’d have to fight for real. Could she do that? Fear of death was ridiculous, as she was already dead. And fear of failure...well, it’s not like she could make things any worse, right?

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.” The world went white.

~oOo~

When she opened her eyes next, she was in a bed, in a room that was far more opulent than she was used to. Sitting cross-legged at the end of it was a familiar man.

“The Sage told me about you,” she said slowly in a raspy voice. “Well, more like he showed me a movie reel of your life. I forgot your name, though...um. Tonyroomba?”

The man raised one white eyebrow and she just knew he was judging her. “Senju Tobirama. There’s water next to your bed,” he said, tone dry.

As soon as he said it she noticed how thirsty she was and sat up eagerly, reaching out with a shaky limb to grab the pitcher that was indeed on a small table next to the huge bed. She paused as her hand came into view. “What...” she whispered, holding it up to her face and studying the small, pale appendage.

“Your soul has been placed into the body of a ten-year-old girl,” the man said, rather bluntly for the news that he just delivered if she did say so herself. Really, he had nobody to blame but himself when she began hyperventilating. The calm that the Sage had infused her with while they were speaking was gone.

Even as she tried to suck in air, an immense pressure expanded in her eyes and suddenly everything was so clear. She had knocked over the vase when she started panicking and she watched in fascination while the water arced through the air, each drop so clear. Tobirama moved towards her and she could see every movement almost  _before_ he made it. He put a cool hand on her arm.

“Calm down, for god’s sake. I thought you knew what you were getting into...” His gaze drifted to the door and his expression went grim.

“Someone’s coming, they must have heard you knock over the vase. Okay, listen to me.” He gave her a shake, which pulled her from her panicked thoughts. “No one but you can see me. Your name is Santo Sumiko. You’ve lived in the Land of Grass your whole life, though your mother was a ninja of Konoha, here on a long-term diplomatic mission. Yesterday, you were attacked by a rogue ninja. Your mother died and you were hit with a Lightning Jutsu trying to protect her. Just...say as little as possible and try to look less confused.”

The door swung open. Again, she was struck by how freakily good her vision was. The next hour was spent being poked and prodded by a nervous-looking man who was, apparently, her medic.

“You came very close to death,” he said solemnly after checking her vitals and getting her a glass of water. “And...you seemed to have activated your Sharingan in the scuffle. Are you unable to turn it off?”

She stared at him. “My what?”

The man motioned at his own face while Tobirama, who indeed seemed invisible to the medic, looked on with disapproval. After some fumbling around, the medic produced a mirror and she stared at her reflection, disconcerted. Her new face was pale and surrounded by a nest of dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her nose was delicate and her lips were bow-shaped and red, set in a round face.

Her eyes, though, were what pulled her attention. They were bright red and in the middle was a single comma mark. “I’m an Uchiha?” she squeaked, clearly in question. It was aimed towards Tobirama, but the medic shifted uncomfortably.

“We were hoping you could answer that, actually. In the information your mother filled out when she arrived, she listed your father as unknown. Did she ever...say anything?”

She stared at him. “No,” she said. “How do I turn it off?”

It took two hours to learn to control the chakra flow to her eyes and when she looked in the mirror at the end of it, she had just normal black irises.

“We’ve sent a message to Konoha,” the man said before he left. “We’ll let you know what they say.”

“Shit. I’m an Uchiha.” She turned wide eyes to Tobirama, who had remained mostly silent. “I’m going to die,” she moaned. “I’m going to go back to Konoha and Obito is going to kill me.”

“No, he won’t,” Tobirama said in a calm voice.

“I’m ten! Sharingan or not there’s no way I can fight him off.”

“The massacre has already happened. It occurred two years ago. I believe that the village will not consider you a threat, as you didn’t even realize you were the illegitimate child of an Uchiha until today.”

"What...it already happened? I thought I was supposed to, like, change all this fucked up shit," she exclaimed and had to force herself to calm down when she felt pressure in the back of her eyes. Great, apparently the Sharingan was stress-induced.

"It was difficult to find an appropriate host for your soul." His voice was harsh and she leaned away from him. "I needed somebody the right age, in a body that could handle the stress of your task, that had lost its soul but could still be revived with the addition of a new one. Sumiko is the illegitimate child of an Uchiha. Her mother probably took this assignment as a way to keep her away from the clan, since they're possessive bastards that aren't known for treating children born out of wedlock well. Sumiko died minutes after activating the Sharingan due to a lightning attack that stopped her heart."

"Okay, no need to get defensive. I just...it's going to be difficult to fly under the radar like this."

"I admit it was a risk," he said, voice calm again. "But one that will hopefully allow you to stay close to Uchiha Sasuke."

Her eyes were growing heavy and Tobirama sighed. "Sleep. When you wake tomorrow, we begin training. You have a lot to catch up on. Luckily, the Uchiha have been bred for war."

“Gross,” she muttered. “They aren’t show dogs. Why...why did the Sage choose a dead guy for my guardian, anyway?” She was sinking into the pillows, on the verge of sleep, when he finally answered.

“Because it was my mistakes, along with Madara’s, that set us upon this path,” he said quietly.

~oOo~

The next three weeks were spent in a suite of rooms where Sumiko was confined due to ‘health reasons,’ but considering she seemed to have recovered physically just fine, she understood it to mean ‘your freaky eyes from your slaughtered clan scares the locals, so stay put.’

The first two days were...hard. It finally hit her that her family was dead and her world was gone. She cried for a full morning, despite Tobirama’s insistence that she shake it off with the stoicism of a warrior or something. Slowly, though, the memories of her former life seemed to lose their sharp edges - as though they were from a dream instead of reality.

“You cannot be two people at once,” Tobirama had said impatiently, somehow pushing her out of bed.

She glared at him. How was he able to push her around, but everything else in the material world remained unaffected by his presence? She’d watched him walk through a wall to give her privacy to change into loose pants and a t-shirt once she’d come out of her grief-induced stupor the day before.

Unaware or uncaring of her thoughts, he continued talking to her in a voice that reminded her of her professors when they were lecturing to a room full of students. “If your memories from your other life are allowed too close to the surface, you won’t be able to function as Sumiko. You’ll find they will fade into the background quickly, though I assume they will have a permanent impact on your personality.”

He said the last in the same dry disapproving voice he used for everything he said, but she had a feeling he was feeling a little disappointed with the Sage’s choice of Savior of the World. Well, she wasn’t exactly jumping for joy over his choice of guardian, either.

Though after the first week of being forced into the most physically intense regime she’d ever done, she had to admit that Tobirama was a good teacher. She had pushed all the furniture in the living room to line the walls and give her space to practice. They then spent hours doing stretches and drills and katas and whatever exercises she could in the small space. Tobirama hadn’t been kidding when he said her body was bred for this. She’d been in okay shape in her former life, dutifully going to yoga and aerobic classes with her mothers and sticking to a semi-healthy diet.

As Sumiko, though, her body flowed through exercises as though made for it, reveling in the twists and leaps and throws Tobirama put her through. When he tossed her over and over again while teaching her how to land correctly, she never had trouble getting back up. She picked up the drills and katas he taught her faster than she thought should be possible. Her chakra, once she learned to find and access it, seemed to sing through her veins, energizing her in a way the best stimulants never could.

They had both agreed that she needed to graduate with Sasuke so she could remain close to him in an attempt to prevent him descending into a power-hungry madness induced by his delusional brother (and he was delusional, Sumiko decided, if he had ever thought the way he went about things was the right way) and a crazy snake-obsessed geriatric body-snatcher. In order to catch up on two years of ninja theory, Sumiko spent every evening listening to Tobirama lecture her about chakra natures and strategy and survival techniques.

They had gone through her fake mother’s things at one point and found a pouch of kunai, which had resulted in a crash-course on throwing them. Sumiko ended up pinning a large tapestry up and drawing a target on the wall. Whenever Tobirama sensed somebody coming down the hall, he’d have her drop the tapestry to hide the evidence of her activities.

In the end, though, they could only fit so much into three weeks’ time, though Sumiko had a feeling that between her awesome genetics, sixteen years worth of school from a past life, and Tobirama’s strict-as-hell teaching style, she would probably be able to join Sasuke in school. Hopefully.

The shinobi who escorted her to Konoha were unfamiliar - they hadn’t appeared in her glimpses of the future. A team of three jounin, two women and a man. One of them was a woman that carried a long sword strapped to her back and wore a kimono over black mesh pants.

The other was wearing a medic’s pouch around her waist, which was familiar to her since her only guest in her room had been her medic. She was barely taller than Sumiko herself. She had spent a long time studying Sumiko’s Sharingan - Tobirama had informed her with mild distaste that she was making sure they weren’t transplanted.

The male shinobi was a large, hulking bear of a person, and made their medic look even more ridiculously short. He was mostly silent, though she was fairly certain they noted every action and every word she spoke.

Sumiko made them uncomfortable, most likely because of her status as one of the two last loyal Uchiha. They barely spoke to her throughout their journey, which took almost two weeks due to her ten-year-old non-ninja pace. Tobirama insisted she do her drills and katas every morning, and her escorts watched with interest but didn’t say anything. She made sure not to activate her Sharingan unless she was alone in the tent they erected for her each night since she was pretty sure they would only become even more disquieted. They almost acted as if she were a ghost.

Tobirama took the silent journey as a chance to continue lecturing her - something he was both very good at and enjoyed doing. It was strange to have to pay attention to someone while continuing to look to the outside world like you’re not paying attention to anything at all, but she assumed it would be good practice for her future. At least any weird quirks she showed at this point could be brushed off as trauma.

Sumiko had always been studious, at least, and soaked up the knowledge greedily. She had become invested in this world’s future after watching one possible fate unfold, and knew she would have to learn as much as she could about it if she had any chance to save it at all.

~oOo~

Sumiko forced herself to smile shyly at the Hokage when she finally made it to his office. Truthfully, she couldn’t help but think a good many of the things that happened were a direct result of the messes he’d left behind, but since he was exuding ‘grandfatherly old man’ at her with his gentle smile and pipe, she played the part of ‘sweet naive kid.’

“I was very sorry to hear about your mother, Sumiko,” he said once he’d dismissed her escort. She didn’t have to fake her sadness when she looked down at her feet, though she was thinking of two different mothers, from a different world, instead of the one he referred to.

“Thank you, Hokage-sama,” she whispered. She had to keep herself from looking over at Tobirama, who was probably still staring at the Sandaime with the same unreadable expression he almost always wore, the great grump.

He continued with the pleasantries for a while before getting to the point. “I heard that during the attack you discovered something surprising.”

“Y-yes Hokage-sama. Apparently I - I have the Sharingan?” She said that in as confused a manner as she could and looked up at him imploringly. His face was a mask of kindness, and she grudgingly allowed that it was probably genuine, even if he would probably let his advisors rip her eyes from their sockets and only give them a slap on the wrist.

“Could you show me?”

Screwing her face into a mask of concentration, she fed a bit of chakra into her eyes and the world sharpened around her. For a moment he just stared before nodding once, quickly, and she deactivated them. Then came the unpleasant conversation about the Uchiha and what had happened to her clan two years ago. She only had to dredge up the memories the Sage had given her to look appropriately appalled.

“S-so there’s no one left? I was hoping...” she trailed off sadly, looking at her feet.

“On the contrary, there was one other survivor of your clan,” he said after a pause, taking the segue she offered and she looked up at him with wide, excited eyes, ignoring the snort of Tobirama from somewhere beside her.

Ten minutes later, Uchiha Sasuke was being led into the room. Sumiko stared at him in what she hoped was desperate happiness instead of just desperation. She’d had a lot of time to think about how to get close to Sasuke in the last five weeks, reviewing her memories of him post-massacre, and she thought blunt force under a veneer of innocence might be the only way to go.

When he first entered, he’d barely glanced at her, face a study in indifference. However, as the Hokage explained who, exactly, she was, his face slackened in shock and he turned his whole body towards her to stare at her. Sumiko took it as her chance.

“Cousin!” she said and pulled him into a hug. “Oh, I am so glad you’re here. I thought I was all alone. Now, I have a cousin - one the same age as me! I am so, so glad,” she whispered fiercely into his ear. He stood, stiff, before finally grasping her shoulders and pushing her back.

“You have the Sharingan,” he intoned a bit darkly, and yep, she’d expected him to be a little put out that she had it first and had thought carefully on her response.

“I - yes. I think,” she said, looking down with what she hoped was an appropriate amount of shame, “that it happened because I was very, very afraid, and thought I was going to die. Is that - is that what activates it, Sasuke-niisama?” Part of her wanted to throw herself off the tower instead of prostrating at this glaring little boy, but she knew she had to tread carefully with him.

Too simpering and he’d dismiss her. Too strong and he’d lash out. Not strong enough and he wouldn’t respect her. She had to appeal to his sense of familial loyalty and prove herself someone that could stand next to him without overcoming him, or he’d forever keep her at a distance despite his own crippling loneliness.

She cursed Itachi for the horrendous case of PTSD he’d hefted onto his little brother and wished she’d gotten more than two years into her psychology minor before she’d been taken out by what she was fairly certain was a Silverado.

He visibly started - at either the ‘nii’ or the ‘sama,’ she wasn’t sure which - but answered her anyway. “It can, yes,” he said slowly and glanced over at the Hokage. “But we can discuss this after we get you home,” he said firmly, seeming to come to a decision.  _Ha! Take that B- in Psych 201!_

Outwardly, though, she just brightened. “H-home? You mean - I’m coming with you? Even though I’m not...technically an Uchiha?”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed and he turned to the Hokage, who was watching them with some bemusement. “I’m assuming there will be no problem with filing the correct paperwork for adoption her into my clan?”

 _Thanks for asking, yes, I’d love to become an Uchiha._ However, she didn’t voice her complaints about his high-handedness out loud, considering she’d gotten what she wanted. After all, you caught more flies with honey, as her mom always said. Of course, then mama would always finish with  _And they’re so busy eating it up they don’t see the punch coming until they’re laid out on the floor._  One guess as to which was the lawyer and which was the elementary school teacher.

Two hours later she was an Uchiha and didn’t have to fake her apprehension while she clung to Sasuke’s arm on their way to the compound, ignoring the interested looks they were getting. The further from the tower they got, the more Sasuke relaxed, and she noticed he was looking at her with what she was fairly certain was wonder.

Sumiko felt a clench of pity in her chest but hid it with a bright smile whenever their gazes met. Tobirama wasn’t in her line of sight, but she knew he was close. She wasn’t sure  _how,_  exactly, she knew he was close, but he was. Her guardian and mentor was a bit of an enigma.

He was a harsh taskmaster and seemed to find her personally displeasing, though she wasn’t sure if that was just how he treated everybody (possible from what she’d seen in her glimpse of the part he played in the Uchiha/Senju drama fest), if it was due to her being in the body of an Uchiha, or if it was her personality in general. The last one wasn’t very likely, as she’d spent most of the past month in a bit of a haze as her old memories faded and she mostly just tried to concentrate on the things he was teaching her so she didn’t have to concentrate on the fact that she’d agreed to become part of some superhuman war.

Mostly, she was grateful to have him around - he was a true warrior, that much was obvious, and a good teacher. Whatever his personal opinions, he wasn’t letting it affect his lessons.

Finally, they entered the Uchiha compound and she stopped. “It - it’s so empty,” she whispered, taking in the long street lined with shops and houses and completely devoid of human life.

He stopped and stiffened at her words, and she turned to him, suddenly fiercely angry on his behalf. Because Sasuke was ten and had seen his whole clan dead in these streets at the age seven, had been brutally attacked by his own brother here, and they just sent him back alone?

She met his dark eyes, which seemed to be daring her to pity him. She grabbed his shoulders and looked him right in the eye, ignoring the fact that he could definitely kill her. “Sasuke-niisama, you won’t ever be alone again, not while I’m around,” she promised him. “We’ll take care of each other now.”

The look on his face was heartbreaking - hope and defiance and  _I don’t believe you._  Finally, he looked away. “Whatever,” he said without much heat.

“You don’t have to believe me, that doesn’t make it any less true. I’m yours, and you’re mine, and we’re family now, so - so deal with it!” She ignored the way he was staring at her like she had grown horns and stomped around him further into the compound, trying to fight off tears. God, no wonder he’d run off to live with a traitor. This village sucked. Or, well, the administration running it did - she admitted that there seemed to be some very good people here from what she’d seen in the maybe-future.

Sasuke fell into step next to her, silent, and she couldn’t blame him. She’d probably given him whiplash with her quick turn around from sweet little cousin to crazy clingy harpy.

“That was very inspiring,” a wry voice said next to her when Tobirama deigned to appear again.

“Shut up,” she mumbled, ignoring the weird look Sasuke sent her and looking straight ahead. They came to a large house at the end of the lane and Sasuke led her inside. She was once again struck by the silence of the place when he led her through the echoing halls and upstairs.

“This is your room,” he said, showing her what had obviously been a guest room. “Decorate it however you want. My room is down the hall.” He hesitated. “I’m not good at cooking, usually I just have some rice and vegetables...”

Her lips pursed at the reminder that he was alone and the next thing she knew she was dragging him into the kitchen and sitting him down at the table. He looked a little shell-shocked as she looked through the fridge and immediately started a stream of chatter about learning to cook from her mother, and how different food was here in Fire Country, and where’s the rice cooker? She wasn’t an amazing cook, but her mothers had insisted she be able to take care of herself, which meant she was passable.

“You’re overwhelming the boy,” Tobirama said from where he was leaning against the counter. She ignored him and set the timer on the rice cooker and took out vegetables.

“Tell me about the Academy,” she said to Sasuke, who was staring at her like she was a particularly puzzling bug.

“...I’m top of my class,” he finally settled on.

“Really? Wow, you must be really strong,” she said, then chewed on her lip. “I know I haven’t gone to an Academy, but do you think there’s a chance I’ll be in your class? Mom taught me some things...” The Hokage had told her that she would take a placement exam for the new term starting in two weeks after she’d ‘had a chance to settle in,’ whatever that meant.

Sasuke just grunted. Poor thing probably didn’t even know how to have a real conversation after so long spent alone in this house. She made sure to smile at him like he’d said something riveting and he gave her a look like she was crazy. Maybe she was trying too hard?

“Do you think you could train me? You’re at the top of your class, so you’re probably the best person to help me!” Another grunt. She’d take that as a yes.

The next day Sasuke was nowhere to be found but Sumiko figured he probably needed some time to process the fact that a non-mass-murdering member of his family had popped up out of the blue, still alive. Tobirama had spent some time lurking around the compound while she slept and after eating some leftover rice and an omelet for breakfast, she followed him to a small training ground nearby with well-used posts to practice throwing kunai with an actual target.

She was...okay. Not great, but okay. Four out of five at least hit the target, though only about one out of every ten made a bull’s eye. “Why is this so hard?” she grumbled.

“Shinobi spend years training their bodies in these arts. Just be thankful you’re in the body you are - it’s naturally inclined to pick these things up.”

That day she also discovered Tobirama’s love for running _._ While her body seemed to handle it well - she probably ran ten miles before becoming seriously winded - he pushed her until she almost threw up. Tobirama had stiffened up at the end of their practice and looked towards the trees. Used to his uncanny ability to sense people, she frowned.

“Who’s there?” she said behind her hair when she bent to pick up a kunai.

“ANBU,” he said stiffly and she froze, then covered it by bending down to adjust her sandal.

“Like, ANBU-ANBU or Crazy-Danzo-ANBU?” she hissed and he glared at her.

“Don’t call him that,” he snapped.

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you prefer power-hungry-megalomaniac-Danzo?”

“They’re the same ANBU that were in the Hokage’s office yesterday, so I’m guessing they’re legitimate, yes. Probably want to make sure you’re not a plant here to kill the last Uchiha.”

She snorted, then sat down fully and decided she might as well do her stretching routine. As she lay down across one outstretched leg - this body was so bendy! - she responded.

“Yeah, it’d be a shame if anything happened to a member of Konoha while they were safe in their homes.” He gave her a sharp look but didn’t comment. It’s possible her snark is what earned her a twenty-mile run, however. And she couldn’t even complain since she had an ANBU tail and talking to herself would be a red flag. Probably.

The next day, her true hell began. Sasuke was back and it seemed whatever soul searching he had done made him determined. To do what, exactly, she wasn’t positive, except it suddenly involved him dragging her out of her bed at dawn to train. He critiqued her form, her throwing skills, her katas (Tobirama had looked highly offended at this, as they were his own personal style, and Sasuke had gotten annoyed when she spent five minutes giggling for no apparent reason) and how out of shape she was.

“You need to learn the Konoha standard katas. I’m surprised your mom never taught you,” he grumbled. Used to being talked at by grumpy bastards after almost six weeks in the company of Senju Tobirama, she’d just shrugged. She wouldn’t exactly say Sasuke was becoming fond of her by the end of the first week, but he seemed at least to be getting used to her.

Every evening he let her drag him into the kitchen and listened to her chatter on about whatever she wanted while she cooked, giving small grunts every once in a while, probably so she’d know he hadn’t been replaced with a wax sculpture version of himself.

She began testing his resolve to let her babble on the fourth night of his stay.

“I’ve never really understood how somebody could not like cats. They’re hilarious. The way they just go crazy for no reason. Or the unimpressed faces they give you in virtually any situation. It’s hard not to like something that just gives zero craps, you know?”

“Hn.”

“Do you ever wonder who just up and decided that pink was a girl’s color and blue was a boy’s color? It’s so arbitrary.”

“Mmhmm.”

“...I mean, it becomes kind of obvious that it’s more about socioeconomic status at that point, right? Though of course history plays a big part in the...”

“...”

She was reading through a copy of the Konoha charter Sasuke had dug up for her after she’d begged him to (yeah, it was weird subject matter for a ten year old, but so what? She liked law, mostly because once she knew it she could bend most situations to her will. Yep, past future lawyer, here) when an awkward knock and a muttered “Incoming” from Tobirama, who was reading over her shoulder, had her looking up.

Sasuke was standing in the doorway, looking slightly constipated. “Do you want to come into town with me today,” he asked slash stated and she brightened, tossing the book to the side with a loud thump and bouncing to her feet.

“Really? Like, I can leave the compound?” she said hopefully and he frowned at her.

“You’re not a prisoner here, you can leave whenever you want, though...I should come with you until you’re used to things,” he grumbled.

Sumiko blinked at him and tilted her head to the side. Either he was concerned for her well-being, or he didn’t want to deal with sending out a search party if she got lost. She decided to believe it was option number one. “You’re so sweet to worry about me, nii-sama,” she said and gave him a hug, which as usual he didn’t return, though he didn’t push her away either. “I’d love to come to town with you.”

The reason for their foray into the outside world soon became clear, as Sasuke took her from shop to shop as quickly as possible to get her school supplies. There were the usual things, such as notebooks and paper, and there were the obviously-for-baby-shinobi-in-training things like beginner’s survival kits, kunai, and shuriken, which she admitted she’d never used before. His narrow-eyed look clearly said she was in for another pleasant lesson, but she just smiled back at him.

Their last stop gave her pause - a specialty clothing store for ninja, a high-end one, by the looks of things. She followed him in timidly and immediately wished she hadn’t when they were accosted by two simpering salespeople. Sasuke’s eye twitched but other than that his unaffected mask didn’t drop. He was one self-contained ten-year-old.

“My cousin needs clothes. She’s going to be attending the Academy with me next week.”

There was silence as they all took in his words and turned to look at her. It was obvious they weren’t impressed with what they saw and she had to resist the urge to cross her arms over her chest defensively. There was nothing wrong with her pants and long-sleeved shirt, thank you very much. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail and she knew full well that her new body was actually kind of pretty, for a ten-year-old. She was pretty sure it was an Uchiha thing.

Tobirama looked on with a curled lip when the older of the two, a blonde, green-eyed woman in a smart red button-up shirt and black slacks that screamed expensive, turned to Sasuke. “I’m sorry, but I think I misheard you. Did you say, cousin?”

Yep, that was definitely an eye-twitch. “Yes. Uchiha Sumiko. She’ll need to choose some outfits, and I’d like the Uchiwa fan sewn onto the back. Unless, of course, you don’t think you can fulfill this order,” he said a little cooly.

They backtracked quickly after that and Sumiko was soon bombarded by what she was sure was every type of clothing ever designed. She made a face at the full kimonos and dresses and shook her head frantically at the high-collared shirts. That was a travesty against fashion, seriously.

Finally, her eye was drawn to a kimono-style blouse in the same blue as Sasuke’s shirt. The fabric itself was smooth to the touch, though the blonde saleswoman assured Sasuke (they never talked directly to Sumiko, and she started developing her own eye twitch) that there was mesh sewn in-between layers of the soft fabric.

She was shoved into the dressing room with it along with four different styles of pants and spent the next forty five minutes trying on clothes until she, Sasuke, and (unbeknownst to anyone else) Tobirama finally agreed on white capri-length pants and the Kimono-style shirt, which tied shut at the small of her waist and fell to the top of her thighs. The wide sleeves ended halfway down her forearms and after a few practice kicks and twists through the air, she had to admit it was easy to move in. Full of visions of some over-exuberant kid accidentally slicing open the ties keeping it shut, she also chose a few black mesh tank tops to go underneath it. There would be no accidental flashing in her future if she had anything to say about it.

The saleswoman, who had warmed up significantly once she realized how much money Sasuke was about to drop on her clothes, spent ten minutes showing her all of the hidden pockets and folds sewn into the garment. It was quite clever really, and the woman, who revealed that her name was Natsu, admitted she had designed it herself. Apparently, she owned the shop.

Finally, Sasuke ordered five sets, with one in all black, and then made arrangements to come to pick them up in three days’ time. Sumiko was mostly silent on the walk home and Sasuke must have decided it was disturbing because when they got back to the compound, weighed down by bags, he stopped and looked at her.

“What’s wrong,” he said bluntly. “Did you not like the clothes? Because we can get you something else.”

She blinked at him and realized Tobirama was also studying her closely. “Oh! No, I love the clothes. I...thank you very much for buying them for me. Nothing’s...wrong.”

Two unimpressed faces stared back at her and she looked at her shoes. “It’s just...are they always like that? The villagers?”

“Yes,” he said, but didn’t elaborate. She took a deep breath and nodded.

“Okay. Well, I’ll get used to it,” she said, forcing cheer into her voice. While she didn’t exactly want to be simpered and stared at like some sort of celebrity, Sumiko thought it was probably going to become part of her day-to-day life now, so she should probably just accept it.

“Hey, did you see that cart full of monkeys? What do you think they were for?” Sasuke visibly relaxed when she went into one of her long rambles and she couldn’t help but feel a bit of affection for the kid. He really wasn’t too bad, once you got used to him.


	2. Chapter 2

“Class, we have a new student today,” Umino Iruka announced.

Sumiko forced herself not to squirm under the regard of thirty ten-year-olds. She had barely squeaked by with a pass into Iruka’s class, thanks to her low scores on the throwing weapons and sparring sections, but made it she had. Sasuke had assured her she would catch up soon (well, he’d grunted at her when she asked if he thought she’d improve quickly enough) so she wasn’t too worried about it.

“Please say hello to Uchiha Sumiko.” The class went dead silent and then the whispers started.

“Did he say _Uchiha?”_

“But I thought they were all dead -”

“Sasuke-kun, did you get _married?”_

“Quiet!” Iruka bellowed and sweet silence descended on the classroom. “Why don’t you tell us something about yourself, Sumiko?” He smiled at her and she reeled at the intense mood swing.

Deciding  _I’m from a different world_ probably wasn’t appropriate, she cleared her throat. “Uh. Hello, I’m Sumiko, Sasuke’s  _cousin,”_ she glared at the girl who had asked if they were married, wanting to stop that rumor before it gained traction. “I grew up with my mother in the Land of Grass, where she was on a long-term diplomatic mission. I like cats, especially the fluffy ones with the squashed faces, cooking, and flowers, though only if they don’t have thorns. Those ones are kind of annoying, because who wants to grab a flower to smell it and end up getting pricked? That’s the worst. Also -”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Iruka said, not unkindly. “You can go sit by your cousin.”

Ignoring the eyes on her after her rambling speech, she moved to sit next to Sasuke, who raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t comment.

“Must you ramble so,” Tobirama said, then went into a lecture about how shinobi only say exactly what they need to and nothing more. She took out a notebook while Iruka put a math problem on the board and asked them to solve it.

It was simple geometry - the calculations of angles were useful for shinobi, obviously. She finished the problem quickly, then spent some time doodling Tobirama in lecture mode. She made his head huge on his body, angled over a tiny, cowering girl wearing a kimono blouse with an Uchiwa fan on the back. 

“Charming,” he muttered.

The first part of the day was tolerable, though she could feel the eyes on her and hear the whispers. Lunch was...not so great. She and Sasuke were surrounded by a swarm of girls as soon as they sat down.

“Sasuke-kun! I didn’t know you had a cousin,” a girl with long blonde hair who looked familiar said. “You should introduce me.” She latched onto his arm and he scowled.

“No, Sasuke-kun, you should introduce  _me.”_ Sumiko gaped, because she definitely recognized the girl that had grabbed onto his other arm. It was difficult to miss the pink hair. Sakura.

“Hello, I’m Uchiha Sumiko. It’s very nice to meet you,” she said when it because obvious Sasuke wasn’t going to offer an introduction.

“I thought all Uchiha were supposed to be pretty,” a blue-haired girl said snidely and Sumiko raised her eyebrows. That escalated quickly.

“Shut it, Aimi,” Blondie said. “That’s Sasuke-kun’s family you’re talking about.” She turned a sweet smile on Sumiko and a chill went down her spine.

“Hi, I’m Yamanaka Ino. Why don’t you have lunch with me today?”

“Hey, Pig, I was going to ask her to have lunch with me!” Sakura said, then turned to Sumiko with a shy smile. “Hi, I’m Sakura.”

Sasuke must have had enough because he shook them off and grabbed her hand. Sumiko swallowed at the laser focus their joined palms suddenly garnered from the group of girls. _Calm down, they’re ten, they can’t actually kill you._  “We’re leaving,” he said before dragging her away.

He spent the rest of lunch glaring away anybody who dared look at them. “That was so scary,” Sumiko said and he grunted his agreement.

It wasn’t until Sumiko was forcibly separated from Sasuke for her special kunoichi classes that the girls cornered her.  “What are your intentions towards Sasuke,” Ino asked, hand on her hip. Sumiko swallowed at the intensity on their faces as they stared her down. Tobirama was conspicuously absent.

“Intentions...?”

“Do you love him?” Sakura demanded.

“Well...yeah, he’s my family. The only family I have left.”  _Duh._

“She means romantically,” Ino said impatiently.

“Oh... _ew._ He’s my cousin!” These girls were crazy.

“Like that matters,” Aimi said, tossing her hair behind her shoulder with a sniff. “The big clans are always marrying their cousins.”

Sumiko blinked at that little gem of knowledge. “Well, I wasn’t raised in a clan.”

“Just stay away from him, or else,” one of the girls said.

“But I live with him, and he’s my cousin. How am I supposed to...?” They ignored her and turned back to giggling and flower arranging, finished being intense now that they’d warned her off of Sasuke.

Sumiko shook her head and went back to arranging the flowers in her vase. She vowed to skip kunoichi classes from now on. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t pass her - she was one of the last two loyal Uchihas, after all.

~oOo~

The next day she was once again removed from Sasuke’s side when Iruka separated them into groups to practice throwing kunai. Luckily, there were no overzealous Sasuke-fans in her group.

“Inuzuka Kiba, and this Akamaru, nice to meet you,” the boy said and Sumiko waved and resisted the urge to hug Akamaru to her. The other boy in her group was a nondescript brunette and he stuttered and blushed through his introduction.

“I’m Jiro,” he finally got out.

Tobirama snorted and Sumiko had to keep herself from glaring at him while they all went and stood in front of the targets. Sumiko was a little relieved to find that she was about the same skill level as the boys Iruka had paired her with. She’d gotten better with throwing kunai in the last few weeks, but she wasn’t exactly a prodigy.

She and Kiba ended up having a long-winded conversation about fur-care and parasite prevention in dogs while Jiro just blushed and stuttered whenever she tried to include him. She was starting to have a bad feeling that his awkwardness had less to do with shyness and more to do with her. 

Tobirama’s obvious amusement - well, obvious to her, she’d been stuck staring at nothing but his resting bitch face for the first few weeks of this existence, after all - only confirmed her suspicions. It was not just the Uchiha males that ended up with a gaggle of fans making their lives miserable.

Iruka stopped to give them all tips on their form and Sumiko focused maybe a little more than she needed to on the lesson. It kept the horrifying visions of squealing boys following her everywhere from surfacing. She said goodbye to Kiba when Iruka called the practice session to a halt and scurried over to where Sasuke was glaring at a rock. It had looked like Jiro was working himself up to say something to her, which could only end badly for everyone involved.

Her cousin twitched when she came up next to him, then relaxed when he realized it was just her. Sumiko ignored the glares she was getting from most of the girls around them while she trailed behind Sasuke so they could start running laps.

“School is scarier than I thought it’d be,” she whispered. He hummed his agreement.

The next day she was partnered with Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru. She’d noticed both of them were in her class, of course, but she hadn’t made any moves to greet them yet. Sumiko just hadn’t decided how to approach Naruto - or if she even should.

Sasuke was her priority at this point, honestly, and she didn’t want to disturb their fragile peace by befriending his future rival and current pain in his ass. Naruto had already made his dislike for Sasuke and determination to beat him clear, and Sasuke wasn't exactly nice to him, either. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be polite, though.

“Hello, I’m Uchiha Sumiko, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto. I’m going to be Hokage someday!” She took a small step back at the force of his words.

“Oh...that’s nice,” she finally settled on, reminded of one of her friends’ little sisters in her past life who used to declare that she was going to be a prima ballerina to everyone she met. “It’s good to have a dream.” He narrowed his eyes at her as if looking for the trick behind her words, but she had turned to Shikamaru expectantly.

Sumiko knew he would eventually become one of the village’s best strategic minds from her glimpse of maybe-future. Right now, though, with his round cheeks, hunched shoulders, and sleepy expression, he just looked like a slightly petulant ten-year-old.

“Nara Shikamaru,” he said.

“Well...who wants to go first?” Sumiko asked when a few awkward seconds had passed and Tobirama had started giving her the intense look that usually preceded a lecture.

“Me!” Naruto said before starting to throw his kunai at the target with no thought to form. Sumiko blinked at the kunai littered on the ground around the target in dismay.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Eheh, I was just warming up. I’ll hit the target for sure this time.”

He darted off to grab the kunai and once again missed all of his throws. Sumiko waited for Iruka to come over and correct his form the way he had with her group yesterday, but he was busy with another student.

“Um, Naruto,” she said while Tobirama hissed at her to do something, body practically contorting with the pain of watching the abysmal throws, “if you turn your body a little, and spread your legs to shoulder width, that should help. Also, you’re kind of flinging your whole arm to aim. If you do a little wrist flick at the end -” she moved to show him the proper movement - “then that should help, I think.”

To her surprise, he turned and glared at her. “I don’t need your help, you know. You’re just like your bastard cousin, always judging everybody!” Shikamaru sighed and she took a step back.

“I - I wasn’t judging you, I was just trying to help...” she trailed off when he stomped over to the target, feeling oddly let down. In all of her memories of the maybe-possibly-future, Naruto had been the hero, the boy and man who saw the good in everything. It stung that he judged her so harshly, even if she knew he was really just a ten-year-old boy. They tended to get cranky when their pride was hurt.

When he came back he dropped the kunai at her feet instead of handing them to her.“Don’t call my cousin a bastard,” she snapped belatedly. Sumiko, queen of comebacks.

Sumiko picked one up, turned to the target, carefully set her posture, and let the kunai fly, ignoring Tobirama’s judging-face. Yes, okay, she shouldn’t argue with a ten-year-old when she was kind of twenty (sometimes?), but she was only human. All five of the kunai hit the target and to her surprise, two of them hit the bull’s eye. She stomped over and pulled them out. When she came back, she heard Shikamaru’s drawling voice.

“She was right, you know - follow her advice and you might just start hitting the target.” She hesitated, then handed the kunai to Shikamaru with a small smile. He just sighed in response, then turned and half-heartedly threw his kunai with the least amount of effort possible. She blinked when they all somehow made it close to the center despite his obvious disinterest.

“That’s a Nara for you,” Tobirama said with what she’d almost call a pout. “They do better than most people at their best while barely trying and the only way to motivate them is to find them an overbearing wife.” Sumiko giggled, drawing the attention of Shikamaru.

“Good job, Shikamaru,” she said and he shrugged, seeming unbothered by her random giggling. Either that or he spent too much time with Ino and expected all girls to be slightly crazy.

Naruto was staring at her with a frown on his face, but it seemed more thoughtful than angry now. They continued the rest of the class in silence, though she noted smugly that Naruto was following her advice.

That afternoon, instead of running laps, they lined up for sparring. Sumiko had been working with Sasuke and Tobirama for the past two months but was still feeling a little nervous about making an idiot out of herself. She watched Sasuke easily dispatch a boy from their class that Sumiko vaguely remembered bragging about having a chunin mother and jonin father. Shikamaru forfeited against Aimi and then she was being called up against another girl from her class named Nayu.

“Okay, Sumiko,” Iruka said. “These are taijutsu spars only, so no use of bloodline limits or jutsu. If you leave the circle, you lose. We play until one of you forfeits or I call it. Okay?”

Sumiko cleared her throat and nodded, then took her stance. She shouldn’t have been worried - compared to Tobirama, even at what she knew had to be his slowest setting, Nayu’s movements were easy to read. She punched forward clumsily and Sumiko’s body reacted without thought. She grabbed the girl’s wrist as it went past her, and using her momentum, flipped her over her hip and onto the ground with an efficient twist of her body.

The air rushed out of Nayu’s lungs when she hit and Sumiko couldn’t help but note that she had fallen all wrong. Iruka called the match and Sumiko snapped out of her surprised daze and moved to hold out a hand to her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to throw you quite so hard. Are you alright?” There was a shocked pause both from the people around them and Nayu before she reached up and tentatively grabbed Sumiko’s hand.

“Oh, that - that’s okay. Thank you, Sumiko,” she said and bowed, taking off before Sumiko could reply.

She moved to stand next to Sasuke, who glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Good job,” he said and Sumiko couldn’t help but beam at him, chest growing warm. He rarely complimented her. “That isn’t the academy style or the Uchiha style of fighting,” he finally said and Sumiko shifted uncomfortably and shrugged.

“My mom taught me,” she lied. But, well, she couldn’t really say that the ghost of the Nidaime was following her around teaching her to fight so she could save the world. So, fibbing it was.

~oOo~

The next day they had a visitor - one that was completely unexpected. “Yo,” Kakashi said, waving awkwardly from the porch. Sumiko blinked at him. Wasn’t he about two years too early?

“Well, aren’t you going to invite him in?” Tobirama said and she twitched.

“Um, hello sir. Are you here to see Sasuke?” Sasuke had asked her to drop the honorifics that morning. Sumiko decided to take it as progress and not his usual impatience with them in general.

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets. “I’m here to talk to both of you, actually.”

Sumiko nibbled her lip and motioned for him to come inside. She had a bad feeling that she knew what this was about. As she led him into the tea room, she began rambling. “It’s such a nice day, isn’t it? I just love the Spring. Ah, you can wait in here. Oh! How rude of me. Uh, I’m Uchiha Sumiko, but I guess you knew that. Of course, I don’t know your name -”

“Hatake Kakashi,” he said dryly.

“Oh! Right. Well, it's nice to meet you. Please, have a seat, I’ll go find Sasuke. Would you like some tea?” He nodded amiably and took out a slightly familiar orange book.

Twenty minutes later all three of them were staring awkwardly across the table at each other. “Well,” Kakashi finally said. “I’m here because the Hokage is concerned that there is nobody to teach Sumiko how to use her recently activated Sharingan.”

Yep, there it was. Tobirama hummed next to her, obviously aware how this talk was going to go, too. “There’s not exactly anybody to teach her,” Sasuke said a little stiffly with his usual glare.

“That’s...not entirely accurate,” Kakashi said and had the grace to look sheepish. Sasuke tensed. Sumiko gritted her teeth. Tobirama leaned back with the air of a man about to watch a train wreck.

Then Kakashi lifted his headband and all hell broke loose.

~oOo~

“What happened to you?” a lazy voice drawled next to her. Sumiko looked up at Shikamaru, who was standing in his usual slouch. His eyes, however, were focused on the bruise on her face, which had a lovely slice right down the middle to complete the picture.

“Flying teacup,” she grumbled and avoided looking at a now-tense Sasuke.

“And was this teacup flying on its own, or did it have help?” His voice didn’t change, but his eyes were now focused on Sasuke.

“Uh...” Sumiko blinked at him.

She was a kunoichi in training, so she honestly hadn’t expected anyone to say much about the bruise on her cheek, which really was her own fault for not paying attention. She’d been too focused on the way Sasuke had lost all the color in his face to notice that he was flipping the tea table up at Kakashi. He had easily dodged the table and teaware. Sumiko hadn’t been so smooth.

“Nara men always were weirdly chivalrous for how tough and independent their wives are,” Tobirama said from where he was sitting cross-legged on a desk right in front of an oblivious Jiro two levels down. “You should probably reassure him that Sasuke isn’t beating you up.”

Before she had a chance to break the weird tension in the air, Ino dragged a wincing Shikamaru away while demanding that he help her pick up a delivery from a merchant. “Troublesome woman, why can’t you ask someone from your clan?” he protested but ended up giving in to her demands and agreeing to meet her after school before slumping over his desk.

Sumiko met his gaze right before he closed his eyes. She smiled and gestured towards her cheek in a way that she hoped communicated  _I’m not a victim of domestic abuse_.

“I see the Yamanaka personalities haven’t changed much, either,” Tobirama said. “Bossy nitpickers, the lot of them.” Sumiko thought that was pretty ironic coming from him, and made sure to raise her brows to convey said irony. He ignored her, of course.

Hinata had entered the classroom right behind a yelling Naruto, who accidentally stumbled into her. She blushed and stuttered at his cheery apology.

“That girl, however, doesn’t take after her clan _at all.”_

On the walk home, Sasuke was just as silent and withdrawn as he’d been since Kakashi left the night before. After Sasuke had accidentally beamed her in the face with a teacup, he’d calmed down immediately. Sumiko was pretty sure he felt bad, but didn’t know how to express it.

“Explain,” he’d finally said while Kakashi silently handed Sumiko a bandage to staunch the small amount of blood trickling down her cheek.

“Ah...there should be some record of it in your clan library, I would assume. It’s a transplant, gifted to me by my genin teammate Uchiha Obito upon his death.”

After a few awkward minutes of conversation, Sasuke had agreed to Sumiko’s training and Kakashi had left. Nobody had asked her what she wanted, but Tobirama had explained (while Sasuke glared daggers at a weirdly cheerful Kakashi) that as de facto head of the clan, Sasuke  _did_  have the most say over who trained her in the Sharingan. Great, a traumatized ten-year-old had some serious power over her. And so twice a week she’d be meeting Kakashi for seeing lessons, apparently.

Sumiko stopped inside the compound gates, frustrated by the silent treatment. “I’m sorry.”

Sasuke turned and looked at her, a frown on his face. She was supposed to be helping him, but instead, he’d had what she was pretty sure was a flashback to the last time he’d seen the Sharingan because her idiot guardian had decided to throw her into the body of an illegitimate Uchiha.

She clenched her fists and looked down at the ground. “My presence here has done nothing but inconvenience you. And now you have to deal with something every day that reminds you of -” she cut herself off.

“I don’t need to train right now,” she said quickly when he remained silent. “I can wait until yours activates, and we can do it together -”

“Idiot,” he said and her eyes widened. His face had softened as much as it ever did. “It’s fine.”

And that was that. She was surprised that Sasuke got over his jealousy over the activation of her Sharingan so quickly. After some serious thought on the subject, she realized that the existence of family outside of his messed up brother might be the one thing that could soften him up. After all, she was something he never thought he’d have again.

School had become an interesting experience. Nobody seemed to know what to think of Sasuke’s cousin. Most were wary of her like she might not react well to being approached since that was their experience with Sasuke. The girls who carried a torch for her cousin were jealous of the fact that she seemed close to him.

They weren’t, exactly. He still wasn’t much of a talker and spent a lot of his time alone, probably off somewhere training. Every morning he spent an hour sparring with her (she got her ass kicked every time, the kid was impressive even if he wasn’t on the level of Uchiha Itachi) and a few evenings a week he would spend time working with her on the clan jutsu that he knew. So far, she’d managed a few sparks when attempting the Great Fireball Jutsu, but that was it.

No wonder he wasn’t feeling threatened by her - a genius in the ninja arts she was not. Sumiko wasn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination, of course, and she improved every day, but in a world of superhumans, she was simply not that impressive.

After school and on a majority of the weekends she spent time with Tobirama in an empty training field, working on his own style of fighting. Sumiko had to admit that she enjoyed it - the way her body seemed to flow from one kata to the next, a mixture of strength and careful calculation and speed that kept all of her attention focused.

Of course, he destroyed her every practice, but she could feel that she was improving. Honestly, she never expected to be able to beat Tobirama - he had been a kage, for god’s sake, and was the fiercest person she’d ever met.

They’d started working on plans in the evenings after she went into her room to try and improve the shitstorm that was coming. “We need to take care of Crazy Danzo,” she said, tapping her fingers on the desk and looking over their notes. Their very, very encrypted notes.

“I told you not to call him that.” She sighed and looked over at him.

“Tobirama,” she said carefully, “I understand that he was your student. But he also spent  _years_ sowing dissent between the Uchiha and Konoha so that they would be pushed into a coup so that he could slaughter their whole clan. He has, or will, work with both Orochimaru and Madara. He’s the reason Pein exists! You said you’re here to atone. Well, Danzo was your student, as was the Hokage. They created a mess, and you’re going to help me fix it.”

He returned her stare levelly before finally inclining his head, the most she’d probably ever get him to back down.

The trouble with taking Danzo down, though, was that he was powerful. She wasn’t talking physically, though she knew that to be true as well. His type of power was much more difficult to overcome - the political type.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had already proven that he wasn’t willing to move against him, so it wasn’t a matter of just exposing him for who he was. Most likely, everybody knew but couldn’t move against him without their lives and the lives of their family being threatened. The man was responsible for the slaughter of what was once one of Konoha’s strongest clans, after all.

“We need to decimate as much of his power base as we can first,” she finally said.

Tobirama wasn’t hailed as one of the smartest shinobi to ever live for nothing. He caught onto what she was saying immediately. “Make a list of all of his known allies. We’ll start there.”

Sumiko was exhausted the next day. They’d spent hours pouring over their memories to create a list of current allies. They’d then agreed that Tobirama should spend the next few weeks following Danzo around. “We need to get a better read on his activities before we can come up with a real plan.”

“Right, and maybe you’ll get some information on Obito’s movements...”

In the midst of all the planning, she’d also had her first training session with Kakashi. She’d waited for him in the Uchiha training grounds by the lake for two hours. Luckily, she had foreknowledge on her side and had shown up with the huge law book she’d been steadily making her way through.

There were a surprising number of laws and regulations for a village run by military law. Though maybe she shouldn’t be that surprised - militaries did love their regulations. From what she’d read, a lot of the things Sarutobi Hiruzen had let slide from his old teammates was either illegal or bordering on it.

Even the Hokage was supposed to follow some laws, though so far everything had been very vague on whether or not he could be punished for not following them. He could also pardon just about anybody for anything, outside of crimes against clan members if their clan head made a fuss. Then all the other clan heads got together and voted on it. Which was some serious crap if you were a civilian or a non-clan shinobi.

No wonder being in a clan was the preferred thing. Money, prestige, and protection, not to mention bred-in strength and the extra training and support. Maybe there was an actual reason why all the girls in the class were after Sasuke. Though, really, she didn’t see them running around after Kiba or Shikamaru, both of whom were much more approachable than her surly cousin. Shino was a clan kid, too, but he was even more difficult to talk to than Sasuke, not to mention there weren’t many little girls out there that liked bugs.

Still, she could already see some useful laws and protections that could maybe be used to Team Seven’s benefit in the future. Possibly even her own. By the time Kakashi showed up her eyes were tired from reading and even she was a little bored of looking at sub-laws.

Tobirama was grumbling about how proper shinobi were always on time and Sumiko was laying back in the grass, dozing, when Kakashi finally appeared. “Yo,” he said.

She sat up. “Hi, Kakashi-sensei.”

If he was surprised that she didn’t bother complaining about him being late, he didn’t say anything. Sumiko knew a losing battle when she saw one.

“We’re going to start with testing your reflexes.” So much for small talk. His tone was just as bored as she was sure he was feeling. She supposed teaching a ten-year-old how to use her Sharingan was a major let-down compared to his usual elite missions.

“Okay...”

“Dodge,” he said, then took something out of his pocket and threw it at her so quickly that she didn’t have time to react.

There was a stinging pain on her stomach and when she looked down, orange paint was splattered across it. Her jaw dropped. “This - this shirt is new!”

Kakashi’s response was another stinging _thwap_ to her shoulder along with a splatter of paint across her collarbone and on her face. “Hey!”

“Stop staring at him and do something!” Tobirama snapped.

His irritation pulled her from her shock and the next time Kakashi threw a paintball at her she at least attempted to dodge. It still hit her arm and she cursed at the pain and took off running towards a tree. Hatake Kakashi was  _paintballing her!_

“Activate your Sharingan,” Tobirama said when she dove behind the tree as the whizz of another paintball going past her ear made her wince.

“Oh! Right,” she muttered. It still took a bit of concentration and by the time she activated it Kakashi was in front of her, an orange book in one hand while he tossed a paintball in the air casually and caught it without looking up.

“Took you long enough,” he said, then whipped it at her.

While her regular eyes hadn’t been able to track it, her Sharingan was able to keep sight of the ball while it flew through the air. Despite that, her body was still too slow to respond and it caught the edge of her sleeve when she twisted away.

“Better,” Kakashi said in that same bored tone without bothering looking up from his book. “But still pretty bad.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re actually bothering to teach me anythi-” she yelped and dove to the side when he slung another paintball at her.

An hour later she had pulled a muscle in her leg, her hair was sticking to the sweat on her neck, and she was aching from the exertion of trying to avoid Kakashi’s paintballs. Sumiko was fairly certain she was covered in welts along with orange and blue paint.

At the end, Kakashi had simply said, “Better. Practice activating it without needing to pause,” then he’d disappeared.

“I hate him,” she said with feeling and Tobirama snorted.

“You did improve by the end.”

“Not worth it.”

He sent her a stern look while she attempted to pick up her lawbook without getting paint on it. “It is not for the student to question the teacher’s methods.”

“God, it’s like you wrote the book on how to be a total bummer.”

“Tonight we’ll be going over the information I’ve gathered from following Danzo and his network around the past week. I’d suggest you take some time getting clean first,” he said instead of deigning to reply.

She blamed her exhaustion and the fact that she’d become overly dependent on Tobirama’s sensing abilities when she was accosted by a green-haired boy the next day. Sasuke had wandered off after eating his bento to practice throwing senbon and brood, leaving Sumiko reading on her own against a tree during lunch. Tobirama was off spying on Danzo.

She didn’t know his name and was pretty sure he was a year ahead of her. He had two friends with him and she could tell by their tiny little sneers that whatever they were there for wasn’t going to be fun. The other children seemed to sense blood in the water because they’d drifted closer to hear what he had to say.

“Can I help you?” Sumiko finally asked with a sigh.

“Is it true you don’t know who your father is?” Green hair said. Well, taunted. Sumiko tilted her head to the side in thought, then shrugged.

“Well, since I have these - ” she flashed her Sharingan with some effort and a few people gasped (one girl even screamed), “ - I’m assuming he was an Uchiha.” She turned back to her book in an obvious dismissal. He didn't take the hint.

“My dad says that you’re a bastard who only got adopted into the Uchiha clan because everyone else is dead.” Green hair’s friend said.

She hummed and nodded. “That’s probably true. Well, they might have let me in if only to protect the Sharingan.”

There was a pregnant pause after her reply. They probably expected tears or denials. Sumiko almost felt bad for them, but it would probably be a good lesson. Green hair might be able to make children cry, but his bullying would not serve him well in actual ninja ranks. Kid was going to get his ass handed to him one day.

“He also said that the only thing you’ll be good for is making more babies so the Sharingan doesn’t die out. You’ll spend the rest of your life pregnant as soon as you -” Green hair’s words were cut off when he was slammed down onto the ground, a furious Sasuke crouched over him, holding one of his sharp senbon pressed firmly against the skin under his chin.

Sumiko dropped her book and stood. “Sasuke, don’t kill him!” she blurted, making the boy with the senbon against his throat - which was now actually pushed into his skin far enough to draw blood - whimper.

Sasuke’s usually blank face was twisted in fury. “You think you can talk to my cousin that way?” he asked with a calmness that belied his expression. “What is your name?”

The boy blinked up at him and Sasuke pressed the senbon further into his flesh. “B-Bunta. Hunoto Bunta,” he wheezed out.

“Did your father really say those things?” Sasuke asked into the complete silence that had fallen in the yard. Sumiko twisted her hands, not daring to move, afraid if she pushed Sasuke he might lose it even more.

“Y-yes,” Bunta whispered, too scared to deny it.

“Hmm. Hunoto, huh?” He pushed Bunta back against the ground and the senbon disappeared up his sleeve.

Then he stood and walked towards the Academy building as if he hadn’t just made one of their classmates piss himself. Sumiko stared after him as he walked through the small crowd of silently watching children. Bunto was laying on the ground, fear fading and humiliation closing in.

Sasuke paused and tilted his head to the side so she could see his profile. “Coming, cousin?”

Sumiko blinked. “Uh, yes.” She bent down to grab her book. When she stood her eyes briefly met Shikamaru’s, who had at some point joined Ino and Chouji to watch the drama. He met her gaze steadily. Though his expression was unreadable and he was in his usual slumped position, expression bored, she had a feeling his thoughts were anything but boring. She shrugged a little and quirked her lips in a  _What can ya do?_ gesture before hurrying to catch up with Sasuke.

She watched him closely the next few days and came to a startling conclusion. Sumiko had assumed, from everything she saw in the Sage’s shared vision, that he would be difficult to get close to. Even Naruto couldn’t crack through his anger and hate to become more important than his goal of killing his brother.

What Sumiko had forgotten was that the motivation behind Sasuke’s decisions wasn’t based in hate, even if that was the emotion that drove him. No, that would be love. Love for his family, who had died. Love for his brother, who had betrayed him.  

Sumiko didn’t have to fight for his affection - she already had it, simply because her eyes turned red sometimes. The enormity of the responsibility laid at her feet hit her all at once.

Changing fate, stopping a war, that had seemed almost too large to be real. So far she’d been thinking of it almost as a puzzle, or game. Move that piece  _here_ and maybe  _this_ would happen. Remove this player and they couldn’t come in later in the game as a pawn. In the end, she could only try and then hope for the best - she wasn’t stupid enough to think one girl could save everybody, after all.

But being the only person who could offer a traumatized little boy happiness? Now that was terrifying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sumiko has a run-in with someone she'd been hoping to avoid.

“They aren’t even trying to be subtle.” Sumiko picked up a small carved wooden cat and examined it.

She was trying to find a gift for Sasuke since he’d seemed down the past week or so. Sumiko hadn’t been able to figure out why until she’d overheard two girls who were amongst the most overbearing of his admirers whispering about it. The anniversary of the massacre was coming up. They’d been wondering if they should bring it up directly or get him sympathy cards the day of.

Sumiko had stepped in and told them exactly what she thought of that idea. Strangers shoving his loss in his face was a terrible plan. Her short but concise lecture hadn’t improved her relationship with the girls in her class.

Not that all of them were on the ‘let’s hate Sumiko for having Sasuke’s attention’ train. Hyuuga Hinata was polite to her when they were paired for anything, though she was difficult to have a conversation with due to her shyness. Nayu, the girl she’d accidentally thrown a little too hard the first time they’d sparred, didn’t seem to hold any interest for Sasuke and was always nice to Sumiko if a bit nervous.

It didn’t bother her that she didn’t have any friends since honestly she was too busy and it was already difficult enough trying to figure out where her place was in this life without the added complication of friends. It was a good thing it didn’t bother her, because being an Uchiha seemed to create an odd sort of divide between them and the rest of the village. It was part awe, part discomfort.

Uchiha were considered untouchable - an elite group of unfairly talented and beautiful people even before the massacre. Now there was this whole air of tragedy around them, too, and people tended to either put them on a pedestal or hate them. It was a lonely way to live, and Sumiko wasn’t sure how Sasuke had been able to stand it before she came along.

Sumiko had gained her own set of fans the past few months, as well, and it was starting to become annoying. A group of about four boys followed her around almost everywhere she went. It hadn’t been too bad at first, since they’d been too freaked out to come into the Uchiha compound and she didn’t spend a lot of time outside of it.

Last week, however, they’d broken through their fear and she’d caught them watching her train twice. Well, Tobirama had caught them with his weird sensing abilities.

Sumiko wasn’t sure what to do about it. Drawing attention to herself by beating the crap out of them was probably a bad idea. It was getting in the way of her training with Tobirama, though. Having fanboys was not conducive to sneaking around in an attempt to change the future. Not that she was doing any real sneaking, yet.

She was ten, for goodness’ sake, it wasn’t like she was some great beauty yet. And while her inherited body did have some of the Uchiha good looks going for it, she was honestly nothing compared to the gorgeousness that would be her cousin. It felt as though she was some strange fad, or like she was a C-list celebrity in a small town. It certainly had nothing to do with her as an individual. Being an Uchiha was a serious pain in the ass.

The group of boys following her tripped over the garbage cans they were trying to hide behind and she rolled her eyes. Tobirama was frowning and looking in the opposite direction, so he didn’t offer any scathing commentary on the state of ninja children’s education.

It was too bad - his grumpiness was funny when it wasn’t directed at her. Sumiko set down the cat and decided to just make Sasuke a nice dinner. She turned and wandered towards a tomato stand.

Tobirama was no longer by her side, but she could still feel him in close proximity so didn’t worry too much about it. She’d just paid for four perfect tomatoes when he appeared next to her.

“Sumiko,” he said in a low, urgent tone that had her skin breaking out in goosebumps. “There are two Root agents following you. They’re going to wait until you’re alone and take you to Danzo. No, don’t stop walking, act normally.”

That was easy for him to say. Her whole body had gone numb and she was starting to shake. Why would Danzo be after her? Did he somehow know she wasn’t what she seemed? Had she messed up somewhere?

“Sumiko, you cannot panic. Breathe. Listen to me, here’s the plan. You’re going to have to let them take you.”

She made a small, pitiful sound of protest and stopped in front of a stand selling various fruits. She used the pretense of looking at apples to lean her weight against the sturdy wood and take deep, shaky breaths. The merchant was busy helping somebody else and didn’t pay her any mind.

“I doubt he’ll permanently injure you, but you need to get a message to Sasuke. Somebody needs to know you were taken.”

“How?”

She ignored the giggles of the boys who had stopped at a stand three rows down and were watching her none-too-subtly. She could probably use them to pass on a message, but she didn’t really want to involve them. For one, it would be difficult to explain to the dozens of people she was sure they’d blab to, and secondly, Danzo would eat them for breakfast.

She set the apple down and turned to walk casually down the crowded street. It was her first time leaving the compound on her own, so of course, something like this would happen. Sasuke was never going to let her out of his sight again.

She tried to think of a solution for the next two blocks. Tobirama was becoming stonier the longer they wandered without coming up with a concrete plan. Sumiko was thinking of the dead eyes of Root members, of the Sharingan embedded in Danzo’s arm and Shisui’s stolen eye in his own socket.

She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to have to see him face-to-face. Would she come out of this with all of her still intact? Finally, her eyes fell on a familiar sign. She sped up, urged on by the pricking on the back of her neck, as though she could feel their gazes on her.

She entered the quiet shop where Sasuke had taken her to get her clothes weeks ago, breathing in the smell of cloth and metal. A moment later Natsu bustled out from the back, a bright smile on her face. “Oh! Sumiko-chan, what are you doing here?”

“Hurry,” Tobirama mumbled, and she licked her lips.

“Um. Actually, I wanted to fill out one of those order forms? I’d like a version of my shirt in, uh, yellow.”

Natsu raised an eyebrow. “Like, this yellow?”

She pointed to a bright sundress in the corner and Sumiko nodded. “Yep! Yes. I wanted something cheery for the weekends.”

“Cheery? You’re a ninja, not a dancer,” Tobirama grumbled. Of course, he’d find a way to disapprove of her cover for getting help. Like the color of her clothes were even in the top twenty list of important things to worry about at the moment.

“Okay,” Natsu said without batting an eyelash. “It looks like the shirts we made still fit you, so we’ll use the same measurements. Come on, I’ll fill out the order form and then you can sign it. Can I suggest one in pink, too? I think a rose would look lovely against your skin.”

“Um, yeah, sure. Pink sounds good.” Sumiko followed her to the back, doing her best not to twitch from nerves or throw up. What could Danzo have planned for her, anyway? It couldn’t be anything good, the man was a sociopath.

“Stop,” Tobirama hissed and looked pointedly at where she was tapping her fingers nervously on the counter.

Natsu noticed, too, because she looked up from the order sheet. “Are you okay, Sumiko? You look unwell.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just - actually, I am a little nervous. I’m planning on making Sasuke a nice dinner tonight to, you, know, cheer him up. I’m not the best cook, though...”

Natsu’s face softened in realization. The whole village knew what day was coming up, thanks to the planned memorial. Yeah, Sumiko was playing the dead family and traumatized cousin card. She figured being followed by extremists who planned to kidnap her gave her a pass.

“I’m sure whatever you make will be wonderful. Here, why don’t you sign this and get out of here so you have plenty of time, okay?”

Sumiko was pretty sure her smile was a little sickly, but she accepted the pen and form. She looked over the information, then bit her lip. She was taking a chance, here, but other than the woman’s original fawning, Natsu seemed like a genuinely okay person.

Sumiko put her pen to the paper. Instead of signing she wrote,  _ Don’t react. Get a message to Sasuke, I’m being followed by people disguised as ANBU. _

She smiled and handed the sheet to Natsu. “I just made one change. I think I should have one in green, too.”

“Oh!” Natsu frowned and looked down. Sumiko saw the moment she read her signature. Her face paled and she looked up at Sumiko with wide eyes. “This...”

“Thanks, Natsu! Is a week enough time? Can I count you to have it finished?”

Natsu blinked, still pale but visibly gathering herself. “Yes, Sumiko-chan, of course, you can count on me. Have a good day.”

Sumiko was impressed when her voice only trembled once. She turned and walked back to the door, palms sweaty and body shaking. She walked right past the boys lounging conspicuously against a wall across the street, hoping to lose them in the crowd. She didn’t want them to get in the middle of whatever this was.

“That was clever,” Tobirama said. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Sumiko’s eyes grew wet and she blinked them rapidly. Her mother used to tell her that tears were for when your heart was broken, and the rest was a waste of perfectly good emotional turmoil and salt water. Sumiko wouldn’t waste anything on Danzo.

She took a shaky breath. “I know,” she whispered and then turned down the alley that Sasuke always used as a shortcut to get back to their house.

The two ANBU appeared in front of her so suddenly that she didn’t have to fake the way her body jolted in surprise. Her lips parted when she took them in. She’d never seen ANBU up close and they cut intimidating figures with their masks and cloaks. Like something straight out of a nightmare, which was probably the aim.

“U-um, hello. Can I help you with something?” She flinched when one reached out and grabbed her arm in a bruising grip. Tobirama glared at the offending hand.

“You’re to come with us.”

“It’s important that they don’t see you as anything more than a normal ten-year-old,” Tobirama said urgently when she stiffened.

She took a slow breath and let her fear show. “Am I in trouble?” Her voice trembled without any extra effort on her part.

“Just come with us.”

She didn’t struggle when he picked her up, but she did scream in surprise when he leapt onto the roof with her in his arms. He must have decided she was being too loud, because she felt a pinch on her neck, and then nothing.

When she woke up, her neck hurt and she was slumped over in an uncomfortable metal chair. She blinked and swallowed back nausea before sitting up and looking around the room.

It looked like something straight from a TV drama. There was a bolted down metal table in front of her, with another metal chair on the other side. There was no two-way mirror like she’d half expected, though she was sure she was still being watched, somehow. The walls were gray and it was chilly enough that she was covered in goosebumps.

“Thank god, you’re awake,” Tobirama breathed next to her, then, “Don’t speak or look at me. I’ve been eavesdropping on them while you were passed out. Danzo has a Yamanaka that he’s going to use to mindwalk you. I don’t know why.”

That  _ did  _ cause her to panic. If Danzo found out what she was and what she knew...the consequences would be horrifying. She stood and strode to the door, grabbing the handle and attempting to turn it. Locked.

“Hey! Hey, let me out!” she screamed and banged on it. “You can’t do this! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

Tobirama sighed when she spun back around, eyes searching for an exit that she knew she wouldn’t find. “I’d tell you to calm down, but you’re doing a fantastic job acting like a child, so it’s actually working for us.”

“Fuck you,” she hissed under her breath. Her captors would hopefully think it was all part of her tantrum, and not her talking to somebody they couldn't see. Because that would be crazy. Tobirama wasn’t the one facing god-knows-what kind of torture at the hands of somebody who legitimately would not hold any remorse.

He didn’t have time to answer, because the handle to the door opened. She spun around and backed away until she was standing right up against Tobirama. She needed the comfort of his solid (to her) presence, especially when Danzo himself entered the room.

Sumiko hadn’t expected him to be so scary. He wasn’t overly tall, but there was something sinister about him. Of course, that could just be the knowledge she held about what he really was. The tap of his cane sounded loud in the silent room. His bandages and robes hid what she knew were some truly disturbing truths.

His face was stern, his one visible eye focused on her in a way that made her lower back break out into a cold sweat. Tears rose in her eyes - this man practically exuded strength. How could she possibly get through this without him knowing she was more than just ten-year-old Uchiha Sumiko?

She stood, frozen under his stare, until Tobirama placed a hand to the middle of her back. “I’m with you. Just listen to me, and we’ll be okay. He’s going to question you first. Don’t lose your temper, and show him your fear. That’s what he would expect from a normal girl.”

Sumiko licked her lips and leaned back into his touch. Tobirama wasn’t one to offer physical comfort, but she supposed he knew she was on the verge of losing it. Be a ten-year-old girl. She could do that. Some days, she even forgot she wasn’t one, for all of her maturity. Tobirama had been right - her old memories were fading fast, feeling more like a murky dream than reality.

She repeated the question she’d asked the Root member earlier, figuring it was a good one. “Am - am I in trouble?”

“That remains to be seen. Please, have a seat.”

Sumiko swallowed and looked at the floor instead of turning to Tobirama for comfort like she wanted to. She missed the reassurance of his hand immediately when she shuffled to the chair and sat down. It was only momentary, though, because he knelt next to her, armor creaking, and put his large hand over her forearm, which was resting on the chair arm so she could grip the metal in her sweaty palm.

Danzo moved to the other side of the table, the  _ tap, tap _ of his cane sending a wave of unexpected irritation through Sumiko. “So,” he said once he was settled. “I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here.”

She looked up at him. He was studying her closely, so she nodded. “Y-yes, sir.”

“Do you know who I am?”

She shook her head, since she was fairly certain nobody had ever told her about him. “No, sir.”

“My name is Shimura Danzo. I’m on the Hokage’s advisory council. You could say I’m responsible for ensuring that people don’t strike out at our village from the shadows.”

Sumiko kind of wanted to roll her eyes at that, and some of her fear faded at his monologue. “Oh. So - so you help the Hokage keep people safe?”

She hoped she was managing to look innocent instead of stupid, but couldn’t be sure, especially when his lips twitched. “Yes. That’s exactly right. That’s why I’ve brought you here. I need to make sure you aren’t one of those dangers.”

Sumiko’s eyes widened. “M-me? But - but I’m not - I don’t -”

He held up a hand and she wanted to curl her lip (and maybe curl up into a ball) at the kindly-grandfather expression he was now wearing. “Don’t worry, child. If you cooperate, and you really are what you say you are, then you’ll be free to go.”

“Danzo, what have you become?” Tobirama said in a low tone. She wanted to look at him but resisted.

“O-okay. I’ll cooperate. What should I do?”

“I’d like to know about your mother.”

Sumiko frowned, not having expected that. “My mother?”

“Yes. I find it interesting that she chose to hide you instead of informing your father of your existence.”

Sumiko gnawed on her lip, unsure how to answer. She didn’t know much about this body’s mother, actually.

“She never told Sumiko her father was an Uchiha, just that he was married and she didn’t want to cause drama,” Tobirama supplied.

“Well, she did tell me that - that my father was married. Maybe that’s why she never said anything?”

“Hmm. Perhaps. What were her thoughts on Konoha? She was away from it for many years.”

“She was loyal,” Tobirama said. “She taught Sumiko to be loyal, too.”

“My mother always told me that Konoha was our real home,” Sumiko said in a small voice. “And that we were responsible for keeping it safe.”

Danzo sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could take your word for it, Sumiko. But, you have to understand, Sasuke is very vulnerable. His whole family was killed by somebody he loved, and posing as a long-lost cousin would be an easy way to get close to him.”

Sumiko hesitated, a small sliver of guilt worming its way into her chest. That was basically what she and Tobirama had done, after all, even if she’d decided to become his family for real despite being an imposter. She tried to hide her guilt by shaking her head, but she could tell Danzo had seen it.

Tobirama knew it, too, because he swore. It was a little shocking coming from him, and her stomach threatened to expell the food she’d eaten that morning.

“I love Sasuke. I would never hurt him,” Sumiko said with true feeling and met Danzo’s gaze. “He  _ is  _ my family. My mother had an affair with a married man and then accepted the post to Grass so that she wouldn’t have to share me. That’s all.”

Danzo studied her. “I’m sorry, Sumiko, but I have to be sure. Fū.”

Sumiko’s heart sank when the door opened behind her, but before she had time to panic Tobirama was speaking rapidly in her ear. “Fū is the Yamanaka. Sumiko, listen to me, I can get you through this. I can block the memories I need to, but it’s going to hurt you. Please don’t fight me, or you’ll make it worse and possibly give me away.”

“How long have I been here?” she whispered.

“Barely an hour,” Danzo said dismissively.

“You been here for almost three,” Tobirama corrected. “Hopefully the shop owner got the message to Sasuke and he’ll have figured out a way to find you. I didn’t want to leave you alone to check.”

Maybe Sasuke would get there before the Yamanaka had a chance to sift through her thoughts. Danzo was monologuing in the background about not fighting what was coming and a man in a blank white mask was closing in on her. She could see his yellow irises through the holes.

Tobirama rested his fingers lightly on her temples. “Let me in, Sumiko,” he whispered.

There was pressure, similar to what it felt like when her ears needed to pop, but deeper, and then she felt Tobirama as a presence in her mind. It was like the awareness she had whenever he was near, but increased exponentially.

_ Did I know you could do this?  _  she wondered.

_ No. Our souls were connected when I brought you back. It’s why I can touch only you and why you’re the only one that can see me. It also means I can do this, for a short time. It’s going to hurt by the end. Step back, Fū is coming. _

Sumiko didn’t argue. It was easier to hand over the reigns than she’d thought it should be, but the moment he grabbed onto her mind the pressure became uncomfortable. She felt it when Fū joined them, too, and that was bordering on painful.

_ Show me your past, _ his calm voice said.

Sumiko watched, horrified, when a memory of her shopping earlier that day hit her, completely outside of her control. The boys knocked over the garbage cans, but instead of talking to Tobirama, it seemed as though she was only speaking to herself.

There was a sense of impatience from Fū and then the last few months zipped backwards in her mind, pausing every once in awhile on something Fū must have thought was interesting. Almost all of them involved moments with Sasuke. The pain increased along with the speed in which he flipped through the images and feelings.

Tobirama didn’t show up once in her memories. She could feel him in the background, straining to filter himself out. She sensed Fū’s slight amusement when he watched Kakashi pelting her with paintballs and a quiet contemplation when Sasuke defended her from the green-haired boy.

Eventually, they were back in Grass. Sumiko’s unease grew, along with the painful pressure. She didn’t have any memories of the original Sumiko’s life so how -?

Tobirama pressed on something and twisted and the pain increased exponentially. Sumiko started screaming when images that weren’t her own flooded into her.

She was three and her mama was throwing her a birthday party. She blew out the candles. Then she was four and mama was finally teaching her to be a  _ real  _ ninja, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement while she taught Sumiko her very first stance.

“Do you know what the Will of Fire is, Sumiko-chan?” Mama asked.

“No, mama. Tell me....”

She loved her mother  so much,  and even though it was just the two of them, she’d never been lonely or sad. Sumiko sobbed at the wave of love that wasn’t her own, that belonged to the dead little girl’s body whom she’d  _ taken... _

“Konoha is beautiful, Sumiko, and the Yondaime was a very handsome and brave man. He had blue eyes, like mine, but brighter...”

Years passed that way, with Sumiko growing up in Grass but always knowing she belonged to Konoha. One day, when she was a little older, they’d return.

Then the Cloud shinobi attacked the leader of the village. Mama tried to stop them, but they were killing her. Sumiko was so afraid and her eyes  _ burned. _ She jumped in front of her mother, throwing the kunai just like she had taught her, but she wasn’t strong or fast enough. The shinobi just stared at her with wide eyes and she could see the shocked expressions on the Grass ninja’s faced when they looked at her, and then the lightning was hitting Sumiko and it hurt, it hurt, it  _ hurt. _

Sumiko fell back into herself with a scream. Tobirama was on his knees next to her, trembling. His body, usually solid to her, looked almost transparent. Sumiko could barely concentrate on what that meant past the pain in her head and the tears running down her face.

She had never felt anything so excruciating before. It was as though somebody had stuck a hot poker in her brain and then scrambled everything. On top of that, seeing the original Sumiko’s memories, feeling her love and pain and knowing how it all ended had been heartbreaking.

“Mama,” she sobbed. “No, no, no...”

She put her hands on either side of her head and brought her knees up, digging her fingers into her hair. Fū was standing on the other side of the table now, mask in place and posture rigid.

“What’s wrong with her?” Danzo asked, sounding more annoyed than concerned.

“Sometimes children don’t react well to that jutsu. She also relived her mother’s death.”

Sumiko continued to cry and a moment later Tobirama’s hand was on her shoulder, though it felt lighter than usual. “Calm down. It’s not you, it’s not your memories. You need to seperate yourself from them, and they’ll be sealed away again.”

“She’s dead, right? She - she’s not -”

“For god’s sake, child, of course, your mother is dead. Cease your hysterics,” Danzo snapped and Sumiko jumped.

“Sumiko is dead, and it’s not your fault,” Tobirama said, having understood exactly what she was asking. “Her soul had moved on before I put yours there, though some of her memories remained in this body. Think of it as an imprint. I locked them away so that they wouldn’t drive you mad. Now breathe, we did it, I am certain Fū believed the memories. Good. Deep breath in. Another out.” Tobirama’s reassurances and steady voice helped.

Sumiko focused on Tobirama and after a few minutes of breathing the pain and panic faded. That had been awful, but at least it was over. As long as Danzo didn’t decide to kill her or something.

“It seems as though you were telling the truth,” Danzo said and Sumiko wiped her nose and eyes as best she could on her sleeve. When she looked at him over the tops of her knees, his lip was curled in disgust. “You certainly don’t seem like much of a threat.”

Sumiko was too exhausted to take offense. Plus, his dismissal of her as a threat was a relief, especially when he spoke again. “I was hoping you would be more of an asset, but I can see -”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off when the door flew open and slammed against the wall. Sumiko squeaked and jumped, but Tobirama squeezed her shoulder. “It’s your rescue,” he said.

Sasuke ran into the room, followed closely by Kakashi and two other men who were hovering in the hallway. “Sasuke,” she said, and couldn’t believe how relieved she was to see him.

She lowered her knees and struggled to her feet, stumbling across the room. His eyes widened in alarm when he saw her and for the first time since they met, he initiated a hug, though it was more him catching her when she practically collapsed against him. Sumiko shoved her face into his bony shoulder and shuddered.

“What did you do to my cousin?” he asked in a low tone that was pretty impressive for a ten-year-old. 

“No need to worry, we were just having a little chat.”

Sumiko clung harder to him and didn’t try to hold back her small sob, though now it was due to tears of rage. If she hadn’t hated him before, she certainly hated him now. She thought the only reason Sasuke wasn't attempting to kill Danzo was her death grip on his shirt, and possibly that she'd probably fall over if he let go of her.

“Oh? And what did you say to my cute little student to leave her in such a state, hm?” That was Kakashi, and she huffed. She knew for a fact that he didn’t find her cute or particularly interesting as a student.

“It’s not my fault the girl is too sensitive. I just wanted to ensure she wasn’t some sort of plant -”

“His ANBU did something,” she said as pathetically as she could. “He did something to my mind.”

Sasuke stiffened and he pushed her back so he could study her face. She made sure to look as downtrodden as she could, which wasn’t that difficult, really. She was still in pain, not quite like a headache, but like somebody had reached inside of her and raked claws across her soul.

“It hurt,” she said after a few seconds of stunned silence.

Kakashi was staring at Danzo and his ANBU, body stiff, and looking more like the elite ninja Sumiko knew he was. “Oh? What exactly did he do, Sumiko?” he asked lightly.

Danzo seemed unmoved and Sumiko glanced over at the door when somebody shifted. She could see the two other shinobi, now, and it was difficult to hide her shock. She recognized them from the not-maybe-future the Sage had shown her, though she couldn’t recall their names.

Shikamaru and Ino’s fathers. Yamanaka was frowning, watching her with troubled eyes, but Shikamaru’s dad was studying Danzo closely, leaning against the wall next to the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

“He - I don’t know. He was in my mind, and it hurt. He made me watch mama die.” This time she didn’t have to fake the tears in her eyes at the remembered pain Sumiko the original had felt.

“You used that jutsu on a child?” Inoichi snapped and stepped forward. “Are you crazy? I’m assuming it’s Fū behind that mask, then?”

Danzo scoffed and began making his way around the table. “I had to be sure she wasn’t a danger to the last Uchiha. Obviously, she’s not. I won’t apologize for doing your job for you, Yamanaka.”

“If the Hokage had asked me to assess the child, I would have. I know for a fact that he and the shinobi that escorted her from Grass assessed her and didn’t see any red flags. Which makes me wonder - under whose authority did you do this?”

“My own. I’m sure Hiruzen won’t make a big deal of it, though of course, you’re welcome to bring it up to him.”

“You detained a clan member without informing the head of the clan,” Nara finally spoke up, though his tone was much calmer than Inoichi’s - almost lazy. “You know that’s against the law.”

Sasuke straightened. “That’s right. I hope you realize I’ll be bringing this up to the Hokage.”

Danzo just chuckled and stepped around Inoichi and out the door. Nara turned his head and watched him go, but didn’t move otherwise. “Ah, yes, feel free to go to the Hokage, Nara. I’ll be preparing myself for my slap on the wrist.”

“Bastard,” Yamanaka said after he was gone and Kakashi nodded his agreement amiably.

“You said he hurt you,” Sasuke said, tone stilted, and Sumiko glanced over at him. His expression was pinched and she realized that what he was showing was concern and maybe...shame?

He probably thought it was somehow his fault that she’d been taken. She had noticed that he tended to internalize things.

After a moment of hesitation, she flung her arms around his neck. “You came. I knew you’d find find me, I knew it. Thank you.”

He jolted at her words and tried to push her off of him, but she tightened her hold. She honestly needed the reassurance just as much as he probably did. He sighed before giving in and awkwardly patting her back. “I didn’t get here in time. He hurt you.”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t - I’m okay.”

“Sumiko,” Yamanaka said, tone gentle, and she reluctantly pulled back to look at him. He was bent at the waist so he wasn’t towering over her and smiling softly. “Can you tell me exactly what he did?”

She bit her lip and looked at Sasuke, who was in full-on brood mode, glaring in the direction Danzo had disappeared in. Sumiko hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid. She glanced over at Tobirama, who just happened to be standing right next to the Yamanaka. He nodded. “Tell him everything except for my involvement, obviously.”

“I don’t know. He - he asked me about my mom. Whether she was loyal to Konoha. And - she was! She loved Konoha, she always said -”

“It’s okay, Sumiko-chan, I believe you. What else?”

She shifted under the intense stare that Shikamaru's father was focusing on her from under his half-lidded eyes. She knew he was one of the people who died in the war. She was fairly certain he’d been a general and very intelligent, though the Sage hadn’t focused on him much.

“He said it was his job to protect Konoha from, um, shadow people. And that he thought I might be one. That I was just pretending to be an Uchiha so I could hurt Sasuke.”

She pressed her lips together and looked at Sasuke, whose eyes had widened. “It’s not true. I would  _ never _ hurt you, not ever. I love you.”

He froze and stared at her and she cringed. Well, that was awkward. “I know you wouldn’t,” he settled on, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he was telling the truth. It would be hard to trust anybody after Itachi. Guilt over the truth of who she was threatened to overwhelm her and she looked down at her feet.

“He didn’t believe me, so he had his ANBU do something. I don’t know, he was in my mind, looking at all my memories, and - and it  _ hurt -” _

“Does it still hurt?” Yamanaka asked, tone urgent, and she shook her head.

“No,” she whispered. “Just, aches, like a bruise or something.”

“Alright. You’re probably okay, but we need to take you to a medic from my clan, just to make sure.”

Sasuke looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? Could he have damaged her?”

He sighed. “It’s not a good idea to use our jutsu on children. Their minds are still developing. Fū is accomplished at the use of Yamanaka techniques, so I’m sure she’s fine. Still, I’m not surprised that it hurt more than it should.”

Well, that was a convenient excuse for her breakdown. Tobirama was frowning down at the floor and Sumiko was relieved to note that he was no longer see-through. Kakashi had taken out his book and Nara was still holding the wall up. Sasuke was trembling and his face was twisted with rage.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Tobirama scoffed and Nara spoke up for the first time since Danzo left. “I wouldn’t advise trying it. The man’s strong enough to be a Kage. The best you can do is file a complaint against him.”

“He didn’t seem overly concerned about that,” Kakashi pointed out before turning a page. Yamanaka straightened and there was a frown playing across his face.

“He probably thinks the Hokage will fill out a retroactive warrant for my detainment,” Sumiko said, frowning as she tried to remember the laws she’d been doing her best to memorize. “That’s allowed under, um. I think section thirty-two point four, subsection B, of the charter. I could be off by a few subsections. Basically, if a jounin-ranked shinobi of the village detains someone because they think they’re a threat, they can get a warrant post-detainment, if they can prove they had reasonable concern for the village’s, or any of her citizens’, safety.”

Sumiko looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to concentrate past the lingering pain. “It’s a loophole that can get him past the charter law that states a clan head must be informed when one of his or her members are detained to give them a chance to represent them if they choose. You’d be better off filing a complaint under the Konoha Children’s Protection Law.

“I technically fall under it since I’m still in the Academy, though my activated Sharingan could be used to argue against it applying to me. We can at least get a fine out of him that way, maybe. A record that it happened, at the very least.”

When she looked back at the room, Yamanaka was staring at her like she’d just grown two heads, Kakashi had lowered his book to study at her with more focus than he’d ever granted her before, Tobirama had a hand to his forehead and was sighing, and Nara was focused on her with more than a passing interest. Sasuke was smirking in apparent pride and had his arms crossed over his chest. His approval went a long way towards making her feel less like a damsel.

“Know a lot about Konoha law, do you?” Nara asked.

Sumiko shrugged. “I like it. It’s interesting.”

“I knew she seemed too normal for an Uchiha,” Yamanka grumbled. “Alright, come on. Let’s take you to see the medic and then we’ll see about filing a complaint.”

“I’ll help you with that, Sasuke, if you’d like. I have to deal with a lot of paperwork and village law as the Nara clan head and Jounin Commander,” Nara offered.

Sasuke eyed him and Sumiko could tell he was considering turning him down out of pride. She sniffled and tried to look pitiful. He glanced over at her and she saw the moment he decided vengeance was more important than pride.

“Thank you, Nara,” he said stiffly.

“Sure. Oh, Sumiko, one more question. Sasuke said he knew you’d been taken because you were able to pass on a message to a shop owner stating you were being followed by imposter ANBU. How did you know they were there - and how did you know they were imposters?” He said it casually, like an afterthought, but she had a feeling it was anything but.

Sumiko froze. In all the drama, she’d forgotten that she’d have to explain that. Everybody was focused on her and panic slammed into her chest again. How  _ could _ she explain that?

“I thought this might happen. Repeat after me, Sumiko. Don’t deviate.” Tobirama leaned into her and started murmuring into her ear, and after a pause, she repeated his words.

“I could sense them. They felt different from the other ANBU that used to watch me, too. I caught sight of them because I knew where to look and saw their masks were blank. It was just a guess.”

Yamanaka leaned forward. “What do you mean, you sensed them?”

Sumiko swallowed. This seemed like a bad idea, but she continued repeating what Tobirama was saying. “Um, I don’t know. Sometimes I can...see the people around me, if I close my eyes.”

“See them how?” Nara asked.

“Uh, not them, exactly. I think maybe, I see, or, or feel...their chakra? And it doesn’t work all the time.”

Yamanaka frowned. “A sensor? It's odd that it doesn’t work all the time. Maybe it’s a lack of training...Sumiko, can you tell us who is in the building?”

“Close your eyes,” Tobirama instructed. Used to following his direction from months of training with him, she did as he said without question. “Okay, now make a show of breathing. Good. Now repeat: There are three other people on the same floor as us, but they’re not close. Above us are fifteen people. Another floor up are too many to count.”

She opened her eyes after repeating his words and shifted uncomfortably under the adults’ gazes. She shuffled closer to Sasuke, who looked more thoughtful than upset. “Why didn’t you say anything before?” he asked.

Sumiko shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it didn’t seem important, and besides, it doesn’t always work.” It had been clever of Tobirama to include that, since technically she only had the ‘ability’ when he was close to her. “Is it not something all Uchiha have?”

She asked that as innocently as she could, and she thought she’d fooled everyone in the room except for maybe Nara, whose lips twitched. Yamanaka patted her shoulder. “No. It’s actually quite rare to have the ability to sense chakra so strongly. It’s much more prevalent in my clan than yours.”

“What’s your clan?”

“Ah, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m Yamanaka Inoichi, and this is Nara Shikaku.”

She bowed. “Nice to meet you. Thank you again for helping Sasuke find me.”

“It’s no problem. Come on, let’s get you to the medic, you look exhausted.” 

“Where are we, anyway?” Sumiko whispered when they stepped into a dark, silent hallway.

“A little-used section of T&I. Underground by three stories,” Inoichi supplied. He was still watching her with obvious concern, as though waiting for her to fall over and start frothing at the mouth.

“How did you even find me?” She shivered in the chill and Sasuke stepped a little closer to her.

“Ah, well, when Sasuke came to tell me what happened, we were able to follow your scent to T&I. I’m a bit of a tracker,” Kakashi said with false modesty and Tobirama snorted.

“Sumiko, I’m going to go listen in on Danzo. I want to make sure he’s truly lost interest in you,” he said.

Sumiko nodded to acknowledge both men’s statements. Kakashi continued on, somehow navigating the hallway and narrating while keeping his nose in his book. “Once we arrived here, we happened to run into Yamanaka and Nara, who were kind enough to offer their assistance.”

She glanced over at them. Shikaku looked half asleep, but Inoichi smiled at her and she returned it with a small one of her own. “Thank you,” she said in a low tone.

“Well, I can’t train you if you’re kidnapped, can I?” Kakashi chirped.

Sasuke twitched at his cheerful tone and she reached out to thread her arm through his, both because his warmth was comforting in the cold hallway, and to keep him from attempting to kill his future sensei.

~oOo~

“Do you think they’re suspicious?” Sumiko asked Tobirama later that night as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Who?”

“All of them? Some of them? I don’t know, take your pick.”

Tobirama was sitting at the end of her bed, cross-legged, and he opened his eyes and looked over at her. “No. The idea that you’re not actually Uchiha Sumiko is absurd. Your Sharingan is obviously not an implant, and you’re a ten-year-old girl. Honestly, I think Danzo did you a favor.”

Sumiko sat up and leaned on her elbow to glare at him. “In what world is snatching me and forcing me to relive my worst memories a favor?”

Tobirama sighed. “Think about it. If there was any suspicion around who you are or your motives, he’s just cleared them. You might have garnered some extra interest with your special  _ abilities _ -” he sighed and she rolled her eyes - “but it’s no more interest than your Sharingan already fosters.”

She lay back down and thought about that. He was right. Now she’d essentially proven that she was exactly who she said she was. Danzo had extra incentive to stay away from her now that Sasuke had filed a formal and public complaint, and she was more determined than ever to bring the man down. It really would be quite the cognitive leap for anybody to assume she was an imposter, now.

Sumiko let out a long breath. She stared up at the ceiling and thought about the original Sumiko and how much she’d loved her mother. Would Sumiko have loved Sasuke? What would she think of living in this empty compound, of the stares and the shadowy political figures? Despite having lived her life through her memories, Sumiko wasn’t sure.

“What are you thinking about that has you looking so worried?” Tobirama’s voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she looked back at him. She took in his white hair and dark eyes, the ever-present armor, and stern countenance.

“I don’t know who I am,” Sumiko blurted and he actually looked a taken aback at her words. “I can’t remember the name of the woman I used to be, or my mothers’ faces. It’s all cloudy. Does that mean I’m not her? Am I Sumiko? Because I just watched Sumiko’s life, and I - I’m not her, either. I don’t know if I’m ten or twenty or even older after watching the future unfold. I - I -”

“Hush.” Tobirama rested a hand on her leg and she sucked in a breath of air. Her eyes were wet, but she wasn’t crying, and her skin felt prickly and overly-tight. “Look at me.”

She met his steady gaze. “Your name is Uchiha Sumiko, but that does not define you. You’re the girl who makes Sasuke dinner and talks non-stop so he doesn’t feel so alone. You memorize law books so you can remember your mother and the person you hoped to be in another life. You’re disrespectful and panic too easily and apologize when you beat people at spars, but you still never throw the game. Your name, your body, and even what world you live in cannot change these things.”

With every word he spoke she felt herself settle. “Right. I - I’m Uchiha Sumiko.” 

“You are.”

“And I’m not.”

“That’s right.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. Thank you.”

He patted her leg, then pulled his hand back. “You’re welcome.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Sasuke's birthday and the beginning of the second semester at the Academy. Sumiko discovers something interesting about herself, and Tobirama lays down the law.

It was Sasuke’s eleventh birthday, and Sumiko had spent weeks preparing for it. She was once again weirdly grateful for his obsessive fan club. Without their excited whispers, she never would have known it was coming up. 

Of course, her ever-grumpy guardian was less enthused about her ‘whiling away’ her training hours to work on his gifts. 

“It’s been almost five months since we arrived,” Tobirama said almost as soon as she opened her eyes on the morning of Sasuke’s birthday. She squeaked in alarm at the way he was looming over her.

“Good morning to you, too.”

“We haven’t achieved anything. If we’re going to prevent the death of the Third Hokage...”

Sumiko flopped back on her pillow and groaned. “We’re doing the best we can. We’re laying a  _ foundation...” _

“As we speak, there are enemies of Konoha moving and you’re spending your morning making a birthday breakfast -”

“Can we wait until I’ve had tea to discuss this?”

“Some are right here in the village.”

“I know, okay? I just have no clue what to do about it. I mean, I’m  _ ten,  _ I have practically zero allies, and I can’t just run around telling people that I know the future, and by the way, here’s a list of traitors.” She threw her hands up in the air. It was too early for a Tobirama lecture.

Tobirama, for his part, had gone quiet and thoughtful. “Hmm. We’ll see. You should get up if you want to have breakfast made before Sasuke wakes up.”

Sumiko sat up. “Ha! I knew you cared.”

Tobirama sighed. “No, I just know you’ll pout if you don’t make his day ‘special.’ You’re already going overboard, there’s no need to waste more time sulking.” 

She ignored his complaining and climbed out of bed. After some hesitation, she pulled out the rose-colored shirt that Natsu had delivered to her a few weeks after Danzo had kidnapped her. It was supposed to be for special occasions, right? 

Sumiko had gone to thank the shop owner in person, both for getting a message to Sasuke and for the clothes. Natsu had been so visibly relieved to see that she was okay that Sumiko had forgiven her on the spot for the way she’d acted when they first met. Now she stopped by to chat with her every time she was shopping in the area. It was nice to have a woman to talk to sometimes.

Tobirama turned and walked through the closed bedroom door to give her privacy. After she was dressed she got on her knees and pulled a long package wrapped in red paper and a blue gift bag from under her bed. She couldn’t help but feel a little nervous over the presents she’d selected now that it was time to give them to him.

After Kakashi had mentioned that there was an Uchiha library, Sumiko had taken to exploring the compound. She’d found not just the library but also a room that stored weapons owned by the clan. There were a lot of them, due to years of clan members either moving on to new weapons or dying and leaving their old ones behind.

Sasuke had handed the keys over to the outbuildings without a word, but so far had refused to join her in her explorations. Sumiko assumed it was too painful to walk into spaces that were so full of reminders of his dead clan.

Most of her attention in the library had been focused on the clan laws and histories, but there were training scrolls (which were much too advanced for her) that she sometimes brought back to the house with her. She left them on the kitchen table; an offering that Sasuke could either take or leave. They were always gone the next day, so she assumed he appreciated them.

She hadn’t bothered looking closely at the storage space until the day after she’d discovered Sasuke’s birthday was coming up. It was mostly out of desperation - she wasn’t sure what to get him, and all of her money was technically his money, anyway. It was overwhelming, especially since she didn’t know anything about weapons. 

She did vaguely remember that grown-up Sasuke had carried a sword, though, so thought maybe she could find him a starter weapon. Eventually, she’d come across a tanto, which Tobirama had assured her was beautifully made and well taken care of. She’d mostly tuned out the long-winded explanation behind identifying quality swords that he’d launched into afterward.

She’d taken it and then spent hours in the library finding anything she could on learning how to wield it. Everything relevant that she’d found was in the gift bag. That way Sasuke could start learning how to use it without finding a teacher. 

Tobirama had vehemently disapproved of the tiny,  _ tiny _ bit of personalization she’d added to the sheath. She thought it might relate back to some part of his lecture on the art of sword making, but mostly she thought it was because he was a stick in the mud.

Sumiko knew that anything that involved Sasuke’s clan was tricky territory. So she’d decided to make the gift more about him and their relationship and less about where she’d found the thing. 

She’d bought extra-strength ninja glue and tiny black and green stones. Then she’d bedazzled it, for lack of a better word, by gluing the stones into the shape of a small cat on the back of the sheath, right at the top. It was black with green eyes and pretty good if she did say so herself. Under the cat she’d had the words  _ To Sasuke Love, Sumiko _ engraved. 

The weapons smith had turned an odd shade of puce when he’d seen her addition to the sword’s sheath when she’d brought it to him for the inscription. Unlike Tobirama, he hadn’t protested, though it was obvious that a part of him was weeping.

It was her own not-so-subtle way of reminding Sasuke that he was an Uchiha, but he wasn’t alone. Hopefully, he didn’t get upset over her defacing Uchiha property. She doubted he’d care, considering he wouldn’t even step into the room it had been kept in.

Sumiko stopped by the bathroom to tame her hair and wash her face before she thumped down the stairs, humming the happy birthday song under her breath. When she reached the kitchen she headed straight for the fridge, where she’d already done most of the prep for breakfast.

Half an hour later she heard footsteps on the stairs and rushed to put the finishing touches on the omelet in front of her. When Sasuke entered the kitchen he paused in the doorway, eyes flitting from Sumiko, who was holding a plate with an omelet on it and beaming, to the presents on the table.

“Happy Birthday!” Her smile faltered when he continued to just stand and stare at her. 

Tobirama scoffed. He was sitting on the kitchen counter reading a scroll she’d unrolled for him that detailed special training methods for a newly activated Sharingan. “Told you he’d hate the attention.” 

Sumiko ignored him in favor of moving to the table to set the plate down.

“Um. I made you breakfast. Your favorite! And I got you some presents...” she drifted off when he walked to the table and sat down.

His movements were stilted and he contemplated his plate for a long time before picking up his chopsticks. “Thank you for the meal,” he said before taking a small bite. 

Sumiko let out a low breath of relief before taking her seat across from him. She picked at her food, suddenly regretting not getting him something less personal and weird, like a pack of shuriken. Or a new shirt. 

He was going to think her present was stupid. Or worse, disrespectful. Why hadn’t she just listened to Tobirama? She was pulled from her frantic thoughts when Sasuke pushed his plate aside. He’d eaten every bite, which was actually quite sweet of him. Usually, he picked at his food in the mornings, which is why she generally didn’t bother making breakfast.

He eyed the presents as though they might bite him, then turned to Sumiko, the question obvious in his eyes. She cleared her throat and pushed the wrapped short sword towards him.

“This one first.” She put her hands in her lap and clenched them together when he picked it up. 

It wasn’t exactly difficult to figure out what it was by the size and shape, and he sat holding it in his hands for a long moment before opening it. 

Tobirama, for once, wasn’t offering up commentary on her life like it was his own personal TV show that he highly disapproved of but couldn’t figure out how to turn off. The crinkling of paper was loud in the silent kitchen.

He frowned down at the tanto once it was free, turning it around in his hands and pausing when his fingers brushed across the bits of stone. He finished rotating it and brought it up to his face for a closer look. His expression somehow went  _ blanker  _ when he read the inscription. 

Finally, he spoke. It wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d been looking for. “Is that a cat?”

“Oh! Does it not look like one? I thought I did a pretty good job on it,” she said the last part more to herself than to him. 

He blinked rapidly and opened his mouth to reply, but her nervousness had hit peak levels and came spewing out of in a stream of words. “I mean, I guess cats are something I like more than you do, but I wanted something to remind you of me when we’re older and have to be on missions away from each other. I suppose I could have done...uh, fire? A tomato?” What else did her cousin even  _ like? _

He took a breath, and again she cut him off by shoving the bag at him. “Those are scrolls! For training. I found them in the clan library. The sword - I found that in storage, so I guess it doesn’t even count as a real present. I mean, the, uh, art was mine - “ she highly doubted he’d know what the word  _ bedazzling _ meant “ - I hope that’s okay? Oh god. You hate it.”

She slumped over into a puddle of misery and embarrassment and ignored Tobirama’s dramatic sigh across the kitchen. “I cannot believe you’re the shining beacon of hope for the future of the Elemental Nations,” he grumbled.

A touch on the back of her hand pulled her attention to Sasuke. His face had - finally - relaxed into an expression. His lips were turned up just enough that she could  _ almost _ call it a smile. “The cat is good.” 

Her mouth dropped open. “R-really?” she squeaked, but he was already reaching into the bag to pull the scrolls out and study them. 

She watched him as he started opening them up and arranging them into some semblance of an order. Sumiko’s nerves faded and a trembly, comfortable warmth uncurled inside of her. It had been so long since she had been truly content that it took her a little while to identify the feeling.

Sasuke still had that slight smiled on his face and every few minutes he’d reach over and run the tips of his fingers across the cat. Sumiko had said she loved Sasuke before, and she hadn’t been lying. It had been a vague sort of love, though, like something you would feel for a half-sibling that you only saw on holidays, paired with the urge to protect him from further harm.

As she watched her cousin’s lips move slightly as he read through the diagram printed on one of the scrolls, eyes lit in an excitement she rarely saw from him, the vague feeling expanded. It grew and became warmer and warmer until it threatened to overwhelm her. Sumiko took a deep breath and concentrated on her omelet.

For the first time, her task here had become personal. She finally felt like she belonged. She was Uchiha Sumiko, this was her world, and Sasuke was her family. She had to protect him at all costs.

oOo

Sasuke’s lips had twisted when he’d been forced to leave the tanto behind, but it was just asking for trouble to wear it to school. It wasn’t technically against regulations - Sumiko would know, she memorized the handbook - but it would still cause a stir. The two of them pulled enough attention to themselves as it was.

He did grab one of the scrolls and put it in his bag before bringing the rest up to his room, though. They walked to school as they usually did - Sasuke with his hands in his pockets and Sumiko holding onto his arm and filling the silence with chatter.

“...I’m making a cake tonight, though I’ll need to stop by the market and get some strawberries since they were out yesterday. Do you mind if we make a stop on the way home? Then I thought I’d make some udon in miso...”

“Sure,” he said and she grinned at him. He glanced over and his lips quirked up in that tiny smile of his, there and then gone in the next instant.

“You realize he doesn’t even like your cooking,” Tobirama put in helpfully.

“You like my cooking, right, Sasuke?” 

“Mmhmm.”

Sumiko sent Tobirama a triumphant look when Sasuke’s attention was momentarily drawn away from them by a man stumbling down the street and smelling strongly of alcohol.

“He’s lying,” Tobirama said flatly. “I’m going to go do some spying. Have fun at school. Tug if you need me.”

The  _ tug _ was something they’d been practicing since Sumiko’s kidnapping. She’d mentioned that she could feel when he was close and that she always sensed the connection between them. The next day he’d forced her into a series of experiments to test what they could and couldn’t do with it.

The most useful thing that they’d found so far is that Sumiko could pull on the connection and he would feel it. One tug was for ‘need assistance,’ but it wasn’t an emergency. Two tugs was an SOS. Three told him to stay away, though Sumiko wasn’t sure why she’d ever need that. Tobirama had raised a brow but not answered, his signature ‘that question is so dumb I refuse to answer it’ move.

He used it more often than Sumiko liked to admit.

When they got to the front of the building, Sumiko’s attention was momentarily pulled by a woman’s sharp voice. She glanced over and had to hide her giggle behind a hand. Shikamaru was slouched over in front of his mother, who Sumiko recognized from other times she’d seen her drop him off.

Ino was standing at his side, arms crossed in front of her and expression smug, nodding along with her as she lectured Shikamaru. “ - and if your friends ask you to come to their house for dinner, ‘sounds boring’ is not an acceptable answer! I swear, what I did to deserve such a lazy son is beyond me.” She put her hand to her forehead and sighed and Shikamaru’s scowl grew more pronounced.

“Now. Apologize to Ino.”

Shikamaru looked mutinous for all of two seconds before his shoulders slumped and he turned his face towards a triumphant Ino. “Sorry, Ino,” he mumbled.

“And?” his mother prompted, and Ino’s smile grew.

“And...yes, I’ll come to your house for dinner.”

Ino clasped her hands together and smiled sweetly at Shikamaru. “Oh, good! Come early, I want to have a tea party first!” She flounced off and Shikamaru sighed.

“Shikamaru...you should cherish your friends,” his mom said, then leaned down and kissed his forehead. He flailed and tried to get away but she had a good grip on his shoulders. Kiba had shuffled to a stop and was now watching the drama unfold with a large grin. “You’re a good boy at heart, and I love you very much.”

Sumiko took in her soft, motherly smile with a small one of her own, though her chest ached as blurry, indistinct images of her own mothers came to mind. Sumiko’s mother was also there, blue eyes bright and happy. Luckily, before she could get too maudlin, Shikamaru’s mother stood and put her hands on her hips.

“Now, I better not hear that you’ve been slacking - again - from that nice teacher of yours, or you’ll regret it!”

Shikamaru tipped his head back. “Alright, alright, don’t hurt yourself,” he mumbled.

“What did you just say?” 

Shikamaru proved he did indeed have that eye for strategy that he was so lauded for in the future by deciding retreat was the best option. Sumiko blinked as he disappeared inside the building. She’d never seen him move that fast, not even in their physical training.

His mother sighed blissfully and when Sumiko looked over at her, she had a soft smile on her face and her hands were clasped under her chin. “What a cute son I have,” she said.

Sumiko looked at Sasuke as the woman turned and walked away. “I didn’t know Shikamaru was capable of that level of fear. He always seems so unaffected.”

Sasuke scoffed, then started walking towards the building. She was tugged along by her grip on his arm. “It’s always been that way with his mother,” he said.

Sumiko brightened. He didn’t usually partake in such trivial conversations. “Really? Huh. He seems so cool usually.”

Sasuke just shrugged. “Lazy, more like. He’s a coward at heart.”

“He is not!” Sumiko said, maybe a little too hotly, and blushed when he side-eyed her. She’d been thinking of grown-up Shikamaru, fighting in wars and protecting his friends. “I mean, remember last month when those bullies were picking on Chouji? He and Ino both stepped in and scared them away.”

Sasuke grunted and looked away. She frowned at his grumpy countenance and peered closely at him. Was he...jealous? The thought had laughter bubbling up in her throat, and she pushed it down and tightened her grip on his arm. “Of course, he’s not as cool as you. When  _ I _ got bullied, you scared the kid so badly that he quit the Academy.”

Sasuke shrugged as though her opinion didn’t matter, but his expression had relaxed back into its usual apathy. When they stepped into the classroom, she stumbled to a stop and her jaw dropped open. 

“Come on,” Sasuke said. “It happens every year, it’s not a big deal.”

Sumiko gaped at him, then back at the stack of presents adorning his desk. It was so large that it took up half of Sumiko’s usual spot, too. Only once had a girl tried to take her seat next to him while Sumiko was asking Iruka a question. Sasuke had given her a glare so fierce that she’d burst into tears.

Sasuke snagged up the garbage can when he walked by it, ignoring the various calls of, “Happy Birthday, Sasuke-kun!”

Sumiko wrinkled her nose, then went to help him throw various weapons, cakes, candies, and items of clothing into the trash. There were groans and sobs of heartbreak around them, but after months of dealing with the Uchiha Fan Clubs, she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad about it. They needed to take a hint, already. 

By the time they’d returned a now-overflowing trash can to the front and taken their seats, Iruka was entering the classroom. He gave the pile of gifts in the garbage a long-suffering look, then went into the lecture as though there weren’t multiple sobbing and glaring girls (and a few guys) scattered about the room.

Sumiko didn’t miss that most of the glares were directed at her. A few of them were even a little terrifying. “Alright. Welcome to the start of the second quarter! From here on out, we’re going to get serious about preparing you for becoming genin.”

“Hey, does that mean we get to learn cool jutsu?” Kiba shouted and Akamaru barked. Sumiko was sure Naruto would have added his enthusiasm to the question, but it looked like he was skipping class again.

Iruka narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t just blurt things out while I’m trying to talk! And, yes, we will be focusing on learning jutsu.” He turned and swung the whiteboard on wheels that was always in the corner of the classroom around. 

In his messy scrawl, three things were written.  _ Hand signs, Clone, _ and  _ Transformation Technique. _ “Now, to pass, you’ll need to know all twelve basic hand signs and be able to perform them without pause. You’ll also need to...”

Sumiko chewed on her lower lip while Iruka went over the jutsu they’d be working towards learning before graduation. Molding chakra wasn’t something that she and Tobirama had been spending much time on. Just enough so that she could activate and deactivate her Sharingan, really. 

He’d said that he wanted her to have a good grasp of the basics, first. He wouldn’t even help her with the Great Fireball Technique, which she  _ still _ hadn’t gotten down, much to Sasuke’s frustration. Which meant she’d probably be at the bottom of the class. She sighed and Sasuke glanced at her.

She must have looked pretty downtrodden, because he leaned over and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

Sumiko did her best to look enthusiastic. Sasuke’s form of training was sometimes more brutal than Tobirama’s. Still, she smiled at him in thanks before turning to start taking notes. The first day of the second semester and she already felt overwhelmed.

At lunch, Sumiko had to wade through what seemed like a sea of girls clamoring to get Sasuke to take the bentos they’d made him for his birthday lunch. He was scowling at them but making no moves to get away, and Sumiko realized it was because he was waiting for her. 

He pushed a box away that an overly-excited Aimi had shoved into his face. “No,” he said in a flat tone, and Aimi’s shoulders slumped.

Sumiko looked at Sasuke’s annoyed face, then at the girls surrounding them, and all of her patience disappeared _. _ It was his birthday and they were making him miserable when Sumiko had been determined to make it a good one. She imagined this happening last year before she’d arrived when he’d had to go home to an empty house. 

Usually, it was easy for her to remember that they were all just kids, but after her realization that morning, she couldn’t stand their obliviousness. Sumiko pushed her way through the crowd with more aggression than she usually did. When she got to the front of it she spun so that she was facing them, Sasuke at her back, then activated her Sharingan.

A moment later she went through the hand signs for the Great Fireball and brought her thumb and forefinger up to encircle her lips. As usual, only a few sparks and sad flames emerged. Still, it was enough to draw the girls’ attention to her. There were a few gasps and screeches when they saw her eyes. 

“Listen up!” she yelled and they all went silent. “The next person who tries to give Sasuke a present, wish him Happy Birthday, or even come within two feet of him today will be answering to  _ me.” _

Ino stepped forward and opened her mouth and Sumiko focused all of her attention on her. “You can back off, or you can meet me after school and I’ll show you what a Sharingan wielder can  _ really  _ do.”

Ino hesitated, though to her credit she didn’t seem afraid. The girl had guts, that was for sure. Her eyes went to something behind Sumiko’s shoulder - presumably Sasuke - and her shoulders relaxed. She looked down at her nails and shrugged.

“Hey, if you wanted to have a family day, all you had to do was say so. No need to be so dramatic.” Ino turned and made her way through the crowd and Sumiko resisted the urge to roll her eyes since it would probably undermine the whole ‘badass’ vibe she was going for. 

After some hesitation, the rest of the girls dispersed. Sumiko let out a breath of relief and deactivated her Sharingan, blinking when the world went dull around her. 

She shook her head and turned to Sasuke. He was staring at her with wide eyes. When he spoke, though, it wasn’t to thank her. “I don’t need you to protect me.”

“I know that, jeeze. But it’s your birthday, which means you don’t have to deal with crap if I can help it. Tomorrow I’ll let them harass you all they want.”

He snorted and she held up the two bento she’d brought. “I made you lunch!”

That afternoon was spent on a lesson learning how to mold chakra, which mostly consisted of sticking leaves to various parts of their bodies. Sumiko did alright with it, though she wasn’t nearly as proficient as a lot of her class was, especially the clan kids. The two highest performers in chakra control were Hinata and Sakura, much to Sasuke’s dismay. After that, they practiced hand signs until Sumiko’s fingers were sore.

Nobody approached Sasuke for the rest of the day, though Jiro and two of Sumiko’s other admirers managed to shuffle up to her and stutter out compliments on how pretty she looked in her pink shirt. She had thanked them politely since she figured she’d used up all her bully points for the day.

Tobirama appeared next to them when they were in the market after school. “Hmm, these are kind of expensive for in-season fruit,” Sumiko muttered to herself as she studied a basket of strawberries. Tobirama nodded his agreement and pointed out a stand with better prices down the way. 

Sasuke sighed dramatically but didn’t outwardly complain when she wandered over there. Sumiko knew he was anxious to try out the stuff he’d read in his scroll at lunch, so she finished her errands as quickly as she could. She wanted to stop and say hi to Natsu but skipped it in favor of keeping Sasuke’s head from imploding.

She was getting better at cooking, thanks to finding a few cookbooks in a cupboard in the kitchen. Still, even she could admit she wasn’t the best at it. Something always seemed a little off. Either everything was too bland or too salty, or the noodles were overcooked, or the rice was mushy. 

Still, it wasn’t like there was anybody else to feed the two of them, so she just kept trying. Eventually, she had to improve. It’s not like Sasuke ever complained, anyway. Probably because it really wasn’t that bad, no matter what Tobirama claimed.

Sumiko filled Tobirama in on the new curriculum at the Academy after Sasuke practically bolted out of the house after grabbing his tanto. He was back to reading the scroll at the counter, and she’d stop every once in a while to unroll more of it for him.

“Hmm. I suppose we do need to start focusing more on ninjutsu. You’re an Uchiha, which means you’re naturally suited to it.”

“I am?”

He glanced at her. “Yes. Your Sharingan allows you to see chakra once it’s out in the world, and you also have perfect recall of everything you see while it’s activated. That means you’ll pick up new jutsu fast.”

Sumiko stopped mid-stir and frowned down at the batter. “Why hasn’t Kakashi-sensei told me any of this?”

“Probably because he’s an abysmal teacher.”

Sumiko spun and pointed at him. “Aha! But you’re always saying it’s not up to the student to question the teacher when I say that!”

Tobirama’s response was as stern as it was wise, as per usual. “Hatake Kakashi is an accomplished jounin. No matter how bad he is at teaching, you should do what you can to learn from him.”

Sumiko sighed and turned back to pour her batter into a pan. “I guess you’re right. I have better reflexes now, at least, and I’m good at spotting things.”

Their last lesson had involved him reading in a tree while she attempted to make it through an obstacle course that included minefields and traps. By the end of it, she’d been bruised and covered in paint - again. Natsu probably considered Sumiko her best customer at this point.

“Will you help me figure out the Fireball jutsu?”

Tobirama sighed. They’d already had this conversation about ten times. “It’s ridiculous that you’re going straight to that jutsu, no matter what coming of age expectations Sasuke’s clan had. You should learn the basics first, and then work up to it.”

“Yeah, but at this point, Sasuke is probably starting to think I’m defective.  _ I’m _ starting to think I’m defective.”

Tobirama pressed his lips together. “Fine.”

She cheered before turning to pop the cake in the oven. “We’ll get up early tomorrow to work on it,” she said and then made her way to the fridge to start pulling out ingredients for dinner.

It was a nice evening. Sasuke ate his meal without complaint and seemed pleasantly surprised at the cake she made. It was a light spongy texture, not overly sweet, with whipped cream and strawberries on top.

“This is good,” he said and she smiled at him. She’d known better than to bother with candles or singing, but when she hugged him goodnight and told him happy birthday again, he patted her on the back and his lips turned up into that small smile.

She was halfway down the hall to her room when his voice stopped her. “When is your birthday?”

Her eyes widened when she realized she had no idea. That seemed like a serious oversight on Tobirama’s part. “Um.”

Tobirama stuck his head around her bedroom door. “February fifth.”

“February fifth,” she said with no small amount of relief. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. His brow was furrowed, but it smoothed out when he met her gaze.

“Alright.” He turned into his room without another word.

“Ah, he’s so cute,” she muttered to herself and clasped her hands under her chin.  

Then she realized if Sasuke caught her looking at him like he was a fluffy kitten, he’d be more than a little annoyed. She dropped her hands and hurried into her room. 

The next morning ended with Sumiko, Sasuke, and Tobirama frustrated and out of sorts. Sumiko could feel her chakra moving through her, she had the hand signs down, she just couldn’t get the power she needed to create the fireball. Tobirama assured her that she had plenty of chakra, so what was the problem?

She stalked to school and ignored the group of girls and boys that not-so-subtly followed in their wake. It was one of  _ those _ mornings, apparently. 

In the next week, it became clear that it wasn’t an issue with her chakra control in general. She was keeping up just fine with her classmates in their chakra control classes now that she had a feel for it and was practicing extra with Sasuke and Tobirama.

Tobirama had started to look less frustrated and more thoughtful as she continued to struggle with the Great Fireball jutsu. One day, after Sasuke had trudged off with his sword, Tobirama stopped her when she headed to their newest training area - the backyard of one of the empty houses in the compound. So far her fan club, which had grown to five boys, hadn’t found it.

“We’re going into town. Come on.”

“What? Why?” She scrambled to catch up to him.

“I want to try something,”

“Ominous.”

“You can never just let things go, can you?”

“I let things go all the time!” she protested, then snapped her mouth shut when she realized they’d left the compound and a passerby was giving her a strange look. Right, can’t wander around talking to herself.

Tobirama glanced at her. “What do you know of nature transformations?”

Sumiko looked around, but there was nobody else on the road now that they’d left the passerby behind, so she answered. “Just what we learned in school. I know Uchiha almost always have an affinity to fire.”

“That’s right. Senju are usually born with an affinity for water. My brother held both Earth and Water, which is how he mastered Wood Release. My affinity was water, though I mastered all nature types.”

“Right.” Sumiko mulled this over. “So you think...maybe mine isn’t fire? Isn’t that a little unusual for an Uchiha?”

“Unusual, yes, but not unheard of. Sumiko’s mother’s affinity was Earth, I believe. You may have inherited that.”

“Huh. So how will we know?”

“We’re going to buy a special paper that will tell us.”

Sumiko was forced to stop asking questions when they entered the more crowded part of Konoha. That left her with only her thoughts to distract her. Sumiko honestly hoped that her affinity wasn’t the problem. She wanted to be someone that Sasuke shared things with, and if her affinity wasn’t the same as his, it would be another thing he was alone in.

“Here we are. They should have some.” Sumiko looked up at the familiar storefront that Tobirama was gesturing at. It was where Sasuke went to buy them refills on things like kunai and senbon. 

She followed Tobirama through the store until they reached a set of shelves that held different types of stationary and he pointed out a small square packet. Sumiko gaped at the price. “What the hell,” she hissed under her breath. “Sasuke will definitely notice this next time he pays our balance!”

“He already gave you permission to buy what you wanted. You know he won’t mind.”

Sumiko sighed but grabbed the paper and stalked up to the front. She added the balance to their account and then they trudged back to the compound. Did it have to be so far from the center of the village? No wonder the Uchiha rebelled, Sumiko was on the verge of it herself by the time got back. Then she realized two of her male classmates were lurking outside the gates.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and quickened her steps, pretending not to hear them when they called her name. Sumiko was running by the time she reached her house, Tobirama keeping pace with her easily. 

He’d started wearing a light blue yukata instead of his armor recently, though his faceplate was still in place. It made him seem more real and approachable. Sumiko had asked him once how he changed clothes, and in response, he’d shimmered and blurred, and the next thing she knew he was in his armor. A useful trick, that. She’d idly wondered if the switch to more casual clothes meant he was becoming comfortable around her. 

She slipped out her back door and then through the back gate. As she hopped fences and crouched behind bushes to get back to their training grounds sans stalkers, she couldn’t help but wonder how  _ this  _ had become her life.

Sumiko gaped at the piece of wet paper in her hand ten minutes later. Tobirama had brought a hand to his chin and was staring at it, though his far-away expression made Sumiko think he wasn’t really seeing it anymore. 

“What - how is this possible? If mom was Earth and my father was an Uchiha...water’s kind of weird, isn’t it?”

“I think,” Tobirama said slowly, “that this is my fault.”

“How?”

“As I said, my affinity was water. Not only that, but I was incredibly powerful, with larger-than-normal chakra reserves. You and I are connected by our very souls, so it would not be strange if your affinity shifted to fit mine when I placed you into that body.”

“Oh.” Sumiko sighed. “Sasuke will be so disappointed.”

“What will I be disappointed about?” Sumiko yelped and flailed so hard she almost fell off the stump she was sitting on. She glared at Tobirama for not warning her of Sasuke’s arrival and he waved her off.

“You need to learn to be more aware of your surroundings. You can’t always rely on me,” he said bluntly and she sighed and turned towards Sasuke.

He didn’t look like he thought she was crazy, so he probably assumed she’d been voicing her thoughts out loud. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

“You didn’t sense me?” he asked and leapt off the fence he’d been crouched on to approach her.

“Uh. No. Like I said, that whole sensing thing is  _ unreliable,”  _ she said a little pointedly and Tobirama just crossed his arms over his chest and raised a brow. “What are you doing here?”

“Came looking for you. It’s past dinner.”

She looked up at the darkening sky. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“What are you doing?”

“I - I think I figured out why I can’t get the Great Fireball to work.” She looked down at the ground, a strange combination of disappointment and guilt making her feel almost ill.

He knelt down next to her and put a finger to the damp paper. “Why?”

“That’s chakra paper. It, um, it tells you your elemental affinity. It looks like...mine is water. So, that’s why the jutsu didn’t come easily to me.”

She stared at the ground and he remained silent, though she felt his gaze on her. Sumiko blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m not - that I don’t -”

“What do you have to be sorry about? It’s fine.” She peeked up at him, but he was pulling one of the sheets of paper from the packet.

Her shoulders relaxed. He really did seem fine with it. Sumiko had felt like she was letting him down by not being, well, Uchiha enough, but that did seem a little silly. “Just feed chakra into it. Water makes it damp, fire burns it. Earth, um...”

Tobirama sighed. “Earth crumbles it, Wind rips it, and Lightning crinkles it.” She repeated his words and Sasuke nodded once before feeding chakra into it.

When the paper wrinkled instead of burning Sumiko made a choked off sound. “That - hey! That’s lightning. How come  _ you _ can do the fire jutsu? You learned when you were way younger than me, too!”

Sumiko really  _ was _ a terrible Uchiha. Sasuke was frowning down at the paper and Tobirama sighed. “Well, he does come from a family of prodigies.”

Sasuke just shrugged, though she could see he was pleased and maybe a little intrigued. “I was taught by my father. He was an extremely accomplished shinobi. Also...it didn’t come naturally. Not like it did for...” he drifted off and looked away. His hand clenched into a fist and Sumiko’s distress over her bad-Uchiha-ness faded. She knew how that sentence would have ended.  _ Itachi. _ It was also the first time he’d mentioned his father in front of her.

Sumiko reached out and put her hand over his fist. “Hey, it’s too late to make dinner. Let’s go out for barbeque!”

He sighed but didn’t resist when she scooped up the rest of the papers and dragged him out to the road. She’d worry about her lack of Uchiha cool later.

oOo

_ Later  _ was the very next day. Tobirama dragged her out of bed before sunrise and ignored her griping with hard eyes. She stumbled after him to one of the training fields on the far end of the compound.

He turned and she blinked at the way he towered over her. “We need to start training you seriously.”

“Uh.” Isn’t that what they’d been doing?

“The difference of skill level between you and your cousin has become clear. Sumiko, if you want to live through what’s coming, you need to be up there with the best.”

“I mean, can’t I just be clever and good at hiding?”

Tobirama sighed and pinched his brow, and his next words completely disregarded her question. “Your affinity actually makes this easier for us to work as a team. How much do you know about what I could do when I was alive?”

Sumiko shrugged and fiddled with the edge of her shirt, which she only now noticed was actually Sasuke’s. She must have mixed it up on their last laundry day. “You could do basically everything, right?”

He chuckled and she looked up at the rare sound. “I mastered all the types of chakra release, yes. I was also renowned for my speed and time/space jutsu.”

“Yeah, but, come on, you can’t expect me to be  _ you -” _

“Why not?”

She stopped at the blunt question, taken aback. “Well, you’re a genius.”

“A genius who is in charge of your training and welfare. Sumiko, you need to stop underestimating yourself. The reason you aren’t succeeding is that you’ve already accepted failure.”

Sumiko bristled. “That’s not -”

“Yes, it is. Why else would you fool around making dinner while Sasuke is training? You’re perfectly content being in the middle of the pack.”

Sumiko shifted uncomfortably. “Making our home a real one isn’t fooling around,” she said softly. “But you’re right about the rest,” she hurried to add before he could snap at her. “It just doesn’t seem possible to be as strong as you or Sasuke, not that way. I was never...” Her voice trailed off and she looked everywhere but at Tobirama.

He sighed. “I know we haven’t been here for long, and that this is all very new for you. I’ve given you space to adjust, but we’re running out of time. I have an idea on how to start dealing with some of our issues, but you need to advance a little further before I can begin testing it.”

Sumiko looked up from where she’d been studying the ground. “Really? What is it?”

“That’s not what we’re discussing. For now, I want you to focus on training. I’ll focus on making plans.”

“But -”

He did the speaking over her thing, which hadn’t gotten any less annoying. “We’re starting with speed training and Water Release. I expect you to perfect the Academy curriculum on your own, or during your time training with Sasuke.”

“Speed training?” She squeaked.

“Yes. Today we’ll be running drills.” 

When Sasuke appeared an hour later, Sumiko had found three flat rocks at Tobirama’s direction and placed them into a long triangle. She was standing next to one, and the other two were set up about thirty feet down the field about five feet apart. 

The drill was fairly simple. She’d start next to the lone rock, then with quick steps, she’d shuffle in front of it, then to the side and behind it. Then in a burst of speed, she’d sprint down the field, using the two other rocks as a finish line. 

It was harder than it seemed, especially since she’d already run through six other drills that all involved circling around, weaving between, and sprinting to and from stupid rocks. 

Tobirama had made it sound so reasonable when they started. “These drills will increase reaction time, take-off speed, and agility. Once you have them down we’ll start augmenting with chakra.”

Sumiko had sweat running down her back and face and her calves  _ burned,  _ and Tobirama kept yelling at her about her form. He was lucky he was already dead, or Sumiko would have killed him.

“What are you doing?” Sasuke asked when she finished her sixth set and was leaning over her knees, gasping for air and resisting the urge to throw up.

“Speed drills,” she said shortly.

He side-eyed the rocks doubtfully. “Huh. Are you ready to spar?”

“Yes, please.” Anything to get away from Tobirama’s slave-driving ways.

Sasuke stopped a few times to correct her form or bark at her for being sloppy due to her wobbly legs, but for the most part, all that could be heard in the field for the next forty-five minutes were grunts and the sounds of flesh hitting flesh. They spent twenty minutes throwing shuriken and kunai at targets before Sasuke watched her mold chakra and attempt a clone. 

So far her efforts resulted in a blobby mess that resembled a half-melted wax sculpture, but she could already feel herself getting closer. His were, of course, already perfect. She was ready for a nap by the time they got home, but she dutifully took a shower and got ready for school.

Sumiko sighed when Jiro, the de-facto leader of her group of stalkers, waved cheerfully at her when he ‘just happened’ to be passing by their gates. She wondered how long he’d been wandering back and forth in front of them waiting for her to exit.

Sasuke snorted, despite his much-larger group of fans waiting for him at school. “I’d think you of all people would have more sympathy for me,” she said.

Sasuke shrugged. “It’s part of being Uchiha. My...parents and cousins had them, too.”

Sumiko glanced over at him, but he was staring straight ahead. That was two days in a row he’d mentioned them, though he still stayed far away from the subject of Itachi. “Oh yeah? How did they deal with it?”

He smirked. “Mother and father said it stopped when they starting dating. Shisui still had them before...”

“Shisui was single, then?”

Sasuke shrugged. “As far as I know.”

“Huh. So you’re saying we’ve got years left of this torture unless I start slowly killing them off.”

“Hmm. Probably. Please don’t get yourself arrested.”

Sumiko put her arm through his. “Aw, you  _ do _ care - look! A cat!” 

She tugged him over to pet the soft cat sitting on a fence until he finally grew impatient and insisted they get to school. They settled into their seats just before Iruka arrived.

“Good morning. As some of you may know, this year we’ll be doing the survival camping trip. It’s in two weeks, but we’re going to start preparing now. It’s a competition, and the winning team will be awarded lunch with the Hokage.”

There were some cheers and a few groans and complaints about dirt and sleeping outside from the other kids in the class. Sumiko nudged Sasuke. “Did you know about this?”

“Every class does it in the second term of their third year.” She’d take that as a yes.

“You’ll be competing in groups of three, which I already randomly selected. You’ll start at one side of the designated area, and will be expected to make it across to the other side within two days. You’ll face obstacles along the way, and will be graded on your time, your teamwork, and the ease in which you navigate obstacles. Any questions?”

“We’ll have to account for the loss of time in your training schedule,” Tobirama grumbled. He was standing behind Iruka, looking over his shoulder at the notebook he was holding with narrowed eyes. Sumiko barely resisted her twitch when he barked out a rare laugh.

She desperately wanted to know where the evil glint in his eyes was coming from, but of course, she couldn’t ask. The class was buzzing around her, conversing in whispers about who they’d be partnered with, and she glanced at Sasuke. It would probably be too much to ask that he would end up in her group.

“Group one is Aburame Shino, Genna Nayu, and Akimichi Chouji.”

Sumiko tapped her fingers on the table when he continued to list people off, not paying much attention until she heard Sasuke’s name. “Group four is Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino -” Sumiko winced when Ino made a high-pitched sound of joy and grimaced at Sasuke in sympathy, “and Hyuuga Hinata.” 

Hinata was sitting directly in front of them in her usual seat and she turned and smiled shyly at Sasuke. “U-um. I’m looking forward to working with you, Sasuke.”

Sasuke grunted and Sumiko poked him in the side. He glanced at her and she gave him her best  _ be nice  _ look and tilted her head towards Hinata. He sighed. “Me, too,” he finally said, though his tone sounded anything but excited. Hinata’s smile was small but bright, though, and Sumiko beamed at him while he glared down at his notebook. She’d get him to bond with somebody other than her at some point.

Naruto cheered when he was put into a group with Sakura and Aimi. Both girls looked less than pleased.

“Group seven is Jiro, Nara Shikamaru, and Uchiha Sumiko.”

Sumiko closed her eyes. Shikamaru wasn’t bad - he’d probably be useful at thinking their way through traps if she could get him to care enough to participate. But Jiro...

She snuck a look at him and winced when she saw he was staring at her with wide, hopeful eyes. She then turned in her seat to wave at Shikamaru. Her hand faltered in the air.

His face was plastered to his desk and his mouth was opened as he breathed steadily in his sleep. He was drooling.

Sumiko turned around and put her forehead to her desk. She had a feeling that the next few weeks were going to be an exercise in patience and willpower.


End file.
